Release passport of man acquitted in Ode riot case: HC

The Gujarat High Court has ordered to release the passport of an acquitted accused in one of the two Ode massacre cases of 2002.

The Gujarat High Court has ordered to release the passport of an acquitted accused in one of the two Ode massacre cases of 2002. The order came recently after the Anand district court rejected the petition of Girish Patel,who wants to go abroad.

Patel was one of the 23 persons acquitted in the case in which 23 persons were killed by a mob in Ode town of Anand district after the Sabarmati Express burning incident in February 2002.

Patels lawyer Shailesh Sharma said after his acquittal,he had applied to get his passport back for its renewal so that he can subsequently apply for visa to go to the US.

However,the district court rejected the application while holding that it is possible that Patel might not be available for the appeals in the case. We challenged the same at the HC seeking direction for the release of the passport and for giving police clearance certificate, said Sharma.

The HC has partly allowed our petition with direction to release the passport for renewal. However,the court has left it up to the police authorities whether to issue the clearance certificate or not, he said.

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