FILE photo of Hardik Patel who is leading an campaign for reservation for the Patel community in Gujarat
Hardik Patel, declared missing by the Gujarat Police, is in Halwad in the state's Saurashtra region, the 22-year-old politician's lawyer has said. The Gujarat High Court has ordered the state government to produce Mr Patel before it by Thursday.
The court issued its order at 2.30 last night, after Mr Patel's lawyer BM Mangukiya petitioned it alleging that his client had been detained illegally by the police.
Mr Mangukiya said today that Hardik Patel has informed him of his whereabouts by SMS. The lawyer said he is on his way to meet Hardik Patel in Halwad, about 155 km from Ahmedabad.
The police have said that Mr Patel fled in a vehicle on Tuesday when they tried to detain him for holding a public meeting in a village in Aravalli district in north Gujarat without permission. A case has been registered against him and 13 of his associates, who were detained by the police.
Mr Hardik's lawyer had said yesterday, "There is no trace of Hardik and we do not know where he is. We later got to know that he was being threatened for the past two days by the state government and their supporters. They were asking him to end the protest."
Hardik Patel is the face of a massive agitation by the politically influential Patel community for quota in government jobs and colleges in Gujarat.
Last month, he was briefly detained after a massive rally in Ahmedabad, which led to violence in many of Gujarat's cities including Ahmedabad and Surat.
He was arrested on Saturday last, after he attempted to hold a protest rally in Surat for which he did not have permission.
Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, who has said she cannot accede to the Patels' demand for inclusion among castes that benefit from affirmative action in the state, is holding a cabinet meeting today to reportedly discuss a special financial package for socially and economically backward students.