More than 65 Aam Aadmi Party leaders including their state President Gopal Italia, were today granted bail by a Gandhinagar court after spending 10 days in jail for protesting outside BJP headquarters. Those jailed include 10 college students.
The arrested protesters are expected to be released in the evening. They face charges under 22 Sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal conspiracy, and sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
“Today, the court has granted bail to the 65 AAP leaders who have been at Sabarmati Central Jail since December 20. We are yet to receive the copy of the bail order and I believe by evening, they may be released,” Pranav Thakkar, the legal counsel of AAP Gujarat, said.
A total of 93 persons were arrested, of which the 28 women have already obtained conditional bail.
Those arrested were among 500 AAP supporters who staged a protest outside the Shree Kamalam office of the BJP in Gandhinagar. They demanded the removal of BJP leader, Asit Vora who is also chairman of Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board (GSSSB), which conducted the examination to recruit head clerks. The protest had led to a clash between AAP and BJP workers and the police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the demonstrators
As many as 88,000 aspirants appeared in the written examination on December 12 for all of 186 vacancies. The AAP alleged that the question paper was leaked and sold in advance for Rs 8-12 lakh. While the government later cancelled the examination and rescheduled it for March 2022, the police arrested 18 accused in the question paper leak scam.
Subsequently, based on the complaint of a woman BJP worker, the Gandhinagar Police lodged an FIR against AAP state president Gopal Italia, women’s wing president Gauri Desai, youth wing president Nikhil Savani, senior leaders Isudan Gadhvi and Hasmukh Patel, and 500 unknown persons. The police, subsequently, had arrested 93 members
