New Delhi: Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti leader Hardik Patel was on Wednesday sentenced to two years imprisonment and fined Rs 50,000 by a Visnagar court for vandalism during the 2015 Patidar protests.
All the convicts were later granted bail.
The Patidar leader was, however, acquitted of conspiracy charges.
“Hardik Patel, Lalji Patel and AK Patel have been convicted under IPC section 147,148, 149. They have been awarded 2 years sentence and Rs 50,000 penalty to each’’, said public prosecutor Chandrasinh Rajput.
Patel, one of the most prominent faces of the Patidar reservation movement, had spearheaded the 2015 Gujarat protests.
Patel faced nine cases, filed in eight police stations, ranging from rioting to sedition after he led huge protests in 2015 to put pressure on the government to accept the demand for inclusion of Patels or Patidars in the “other backward class” reservation category.