Anant Patel, a Congress MLA from Gujarat’s Vansda (ST) seat, has been fined Rs 99 by a court in Navsari for tearing a photo of PM Narendra Modi during a students’ protest in 2017. Along with six others, including Youth Congress members, Patel was booked under several IPC sections, including criminal trespass and intentional insult.
The court of additional chief judicial magistrate VA Dhadhal found Patel guilty under Section 447 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal trespass. Patel and the others were accused of entering the office of the vice chancellor of Navsari Agriculture University during a student protest, behaving in an unruly manner and tearing a photo of PM Modi kept on the VC’s table.
The court found three of the accused guilty of criminal trespass and ordered them to deposit a fine of Rs 99, failing which they will have to face simple imprisonment of seven days. The defence claimed political vendetta, while the prosecution sought the maximum punishment of three months’ imprisonment and a Rs 500 fine.
The prosecution sought maximum punishment for Patel under section 447 of IPC, which is a jail term of up to three months and a fine of Rs 500. Patel and six others, including members of the Youth Congress, were booked under IPC sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 353 (assault), 427 (mischief causing loss of Rs 50 upwards), 447 (criminal trespass) and 504 (intentional insult) by Jalalpore police in May 2017.
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