The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: In separate orders, courts in BJP-ruled Delhi and Gujarat have paved the way for the withdrawal of cases against former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Shehla Rashid and Hardik Patel, once the face of the Patidar agitation in Gujarat.
The withdrawal of cases against the both comes after they changed their earlier stance of being fierce BJP critics.
While Rashid in recent times have publicly praised what she termed as the “selfless service” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to the nation, Patel is an incumbent BJP MLA from Viramgam in Gujarat.
FIR against Rashid was lodged after reading down of Article 370
A Delhi court on Thursday (February 27) accepted an application filed by the Delhi Police to withdraw the prosecution of Rashid in a sedition case dating back to 2019, reported The Indian Express.
On August 18, 2019, Rashid had alleged excesses by the armed forces against children and youth in Jammu and Kashmir following the BJP government’s decision to read down Article 370.
The police had registered the FIR under sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language), 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code, and prosecution sanction against Rashid was granted by the Lieutenant Governor (L-G).
However, in December last year, a screening committee recommended the withdrawal of the prosecution against Rashid to the L-G. Thereafter, the Delhi Police approached the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Anuj Kumar Singh of Patiala House Court with the request to withdraw the case.
Patel’s journey from sedition accused to BJP MLA
In another report, The Indian Express said that the Ahmedabad City Civil and Sessions Court has allowed the Gujarat government to withdraw a sedition case filed against Patel and four associates who led the 2015 Patidar quota agitation.
The 2015 case against Patel and others accused charged them of conspiring to instigate members of the Patidar or Patel community to agitate for its inclusion in the OBC list “despite knowing that it was not “legally and sociologically possible”.
Earlier, Patel and the other accused were charged under sections 124A (sedition), 121 (waging or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the Government of India), 121A (conspiracy to commit offences punishable by section 121), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), and 153B (imputation, assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the Indian Penal Code.
However, the BJP government in the state had communicated its decision to withdraw the case against Patel and others through a letter addressed by the District Magistrate dated February 18, 2025, to the Special Public Prosecutor.
“[I]t appears that the offence is pertaining to deliberately and knowingly by words, spoken and written, attempted to undermine public order and lawful authority of the State. It is also pertinent to note in the peculiar facts of the present case that no accusation of damages under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, therefore, no damages had been caused to public property,” said the court in its order, giving permission to withdraw the prosecution against Patel and the other accused.
Formerly a staunch detractor of the BJP, Patel had started his political journey from the Congress but then left the party before the 2022 Gujarat elections. He joined the BJP and subsequently became a legislator.
Opposition’s allegations against BJP of working like ‘washing machine’
In recent times, opposition parties have repeatedly accused the BJP of working like “washing machine” for those facing corruption charges.
At least 25 politicians who were with other parties and facing central agency investigations have crossed over to the BJP since 2014.
Of these, 23 leaders have got reprieve in their cases. While three of their cases have been closed entirely, 20 others remain stalled or in cold storage.
Opposition parties have been raising their voice time and again over the last few years against the Narendra Modi government’s “misuse” of central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and Income Tax Department.
Another investigation found that 95% of ED cases since the BJP came to power in 2014 were against Opposition leaders.