Gujarat: BJP MLA, four others get six months imprisonment

RAJKOT: BJP MLA from Jamnagar (rural) constituency, Raghavji Patel, was among five persons sentenced to six months imprisonment on Tuesday in a 13-year-old case of damaging public property.
A court in Dhrol town of Jamnagar found Patel, Narendrasinh Jadeja, Jayesh Bhatt, Jitendra Shrimali and Karansinh Jadeja guilty for the offences lodged under Damage to Public Property Act and obstructing public servant in discharging duties in 2007.
Patel, a Congress member then, and his supporters had organized a protest against poor services at a community health centre in Dhrol. During the protest, stones were hurled and the health centre was damaged.
Principal civil judge H J Zala also fined each convict Rs 10,000, but the execution of the sentence was stayed till the time of appeal. Three of the convicts are local journalists.
The trial was completed in March and the order was reserved. Assistant public prosecutor (APP), Ramsinh Bhuriya, said, “We had filed an application for withdrawal of this case last month, but it was rejected by the court. The government had challenged this rejection order in the high court. On Tuesday, however, the government withdrew its application from the high court.”
The court convicted all the accused under IPC section 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restrain) and sections of The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984