Hardik Patel gets bail, set to be freed

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Monday granted bail to Patidar reservation spearhead Hardik Patel in the last case against him, preparing the ground for his release after nearly 10 months in jail. Hardik Patel has got bail in two sedition cases and one on the attack on the office of Visnagar BJP MLA Hrishikesh Patel and other government properties during the reservation agitation. He had challenged in the high court the Visnagar court's refusal to give bail to him. The appeal was heard on Monday. The 23-year-old Patel leader has been bailed out on the condition that he stays away from Gujarat for six months. Sources in the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) claim that Patel was likely to spend the next six months in election-bound Uttar Pradesh. The Kurmis in the country's most populous state are equivalent to Patels in Gujarat and are considered electorally significant. The release of Hardik Patel was welcomed with firecrackers and shouting of slogans by his supporters and family members outside the high court, his hometown Viramgam in Ahmedabad district and at Visnagar town in north Gujarat and in Surat city.