Vadodara: A judicial magistrate’s court on Thursday acquitted minister of state for urban housing Yogesh Patel, former deputy mayor Suresh Rajput and five others in two cases of rioting and hurting a public servant dating back to 1989.
The court of additional chief judicial magistrate C P Charan gave benefit of doubt to all seven accused as the prosecution could not produce any evidence which could prove charges against them.
As per the account of old timers, Patel, Rajput, current spokesperson of BJP’s city unit Mukesh Dixit, Ajay Dave, Ratnavijaysinh Chauhan, Bharatkumar Thakor and Pankaj Patel had held a ‘havan’ under the banner of Heet Rakshak Samiti. Following the ‘havan’ against private schools charging high fees they had started a march from Jubileebaug to Tower crossroads.
However, the original police records state that during their march with swords in their hands on July 31, 1989, they damaged public property and pelted stones at vehicles including a bus. Police commissioner’s notification banning gathering of four or more persons was already in place and they had not taken any permission for their ‘havan’ or march. All seven were charged for rioting, violation of public notification and Public Property Damage Act among other offences. Patel and Rajput also faced a separate case of assault and hurting a police constable. The accused were represented by their lawyers Hitesh Gupta, Sohil Godia and Siddharth Pawar.
During the hearing of the rioting case, all 17 witnesses and material witnesses were declared as hostile as they did not remember the events of the day. The court noted that most of the witnesses are above the age of 60 years and their health is not fine due to which they have stated that they are unable to recall the incidents from the day of offence.