Tension eases, curfew relaxed in violence-hit Gujarat

Tension persisted on Friday in violence-hit Gujarat, which has been rocked by the Patel quota reservation stir even as curfew was lifted from many cities and some parts of Ahmedabad and no major incident reported since Thursday.

Hardik Patel, 22, who has galvanised the dominant Patel community in Gujarat on the reservation demand, on Friday threatened to intensify the agitation and decided to rope in Gujjars for support.

Meanwhile, after going through the autopsy report of Shwetang Patel, who allegedly succumbed to the merciless beating of the Bapunagar police, the Gujarat high court on Friday said the case appears to be that of 'homicidal death'. The team of four doctors, who were assigned to carry out a second post-mortem of the body, on Thursday submitted the report before the single-judge bench of Justice JB Pardiwala on Friday.

"The autopsy performed makes one thing clear, of course, prima facie, that the case is of homicidal death. Now, the next question that crops up is who is responsible for the homicidal death," the judge remarked.

Hardik, in an interview to a news agency, also said that his sole objective is the inclusion of Patel community in the OBC category and not the abolition of the quota system while firmly ruling out negotiations on the issue.

"We do not want reservation system to be abolished as it is being talked. We just want OBC quota for Patels," Hardik said when asked about reports quoting him as saying that if Patels are not included the OBC category there should be total removal of the reservation system.

According to ADGP (Law and Order), P P Pandey, as many as 95 FIRs have been registered in the state, including around 40 in Ahmedabad in connection with violence, in which 10 people were killed.

According to a senior police official, 21 persons in Ahmedabad district, 22 in Sabarkantha and 53 in Rajkot have been arrested in the last three days.

The situation in Gujarat, which is bearing the brunt of the agitation by the Patel community seeking reservation under the OBC category, is gradually returning to normal, officials claimed.

Barring Gadh village of Banaskantha and six police station areas of Ahmedabad city, curfew was lifted in most parts of state on Friday. As per the state control room, curfew has been lifted in Mehsana, Unjha, Visnagar and Kadi towns on Friday.

Restrictions were withdrawn from Patan town as well as Palanpur town of Banaskantha. However, curfew was still in effect at Gadh village of Banaskantha, where three persons had died in police firing on August 26.

Apart from Gadh, six police station areas of Ahmedabad city are still kept under curfew are Ramol, Nikol, Bapunagar, Odhav, Naroda and Krishnanagar areas.

"Curfew has been lifted in Naranpura, Ghatlodia and Vadaj police stations areas of Ahmedabad," police said.

Ahmedabad District Collector Rajkumar Beniwal said the Army continued flag march on roads in some city areas on Friday.

—With inputs from agencies