The Botad District and Sessions Court on Saturday granted bail to seven AAP leaders who were in jail in connection with a case of rioting and attempt to murder during the violence with police in Hadadad village of Botad district in October last year. These included the two of the party’s senior state leaders Raju Karpada and Pravin Ram, who have been in prison for more than 100 days. They will be released on Sunday, said an AAP spokesperson.
A statement from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday said, “A total of seven people, including AAP farmer leader Rajubhai Karpada, Pravinbhai Ram, Rameshbhai Mer, Hansrajbhai Bhalala, Vipulbhai alias Kamleshbhai Hakabhai Hariyani, Vipulbhai Makwana, and Jitendrabhai Govindiya, received bail from the Botad court on January 31.”
Isudan Gadhvi, the Gujarat chief of AAP said, “Truth always prevails. The BJP jailed those who tried to stop the price-cutting practice instead of those who committed price-cutting, due to which anger was seen among 5.4 million farmers, farm laborers, workers, and cattle-rearers of Gujarat. The BJP committed atrocities in haste similar to what the British did at Jallianwala Bagh, and thereafter Raju Karpada, Pravin Ram, Raju Borkhatariya, Piyush Parmar, along with several farmer leaders and a large number of farmers, were jailed. The last remaining seven leaders have now been granted bail today.”
The FIR in this case, filed on behalf of the State in the wee hours of October 13, 2025, came in response to the violent conflict between AAP workers and farmers, and the police in Hadadad village of Botad on October 12 evening, which saw stone pelting, destruction of police vehicles on one side, and lathicharge and teargas shelling from the other.
A total of 68 persons including AAP leaders, party workers and farmers were booked for attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, rioting, assaulting a public servant, voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant, voluntarily causing grievous hurt, among others. They were also booked for destruction of public property and for being in violation of a notification promulgated by a public servant. The FIR was filed in the wee hours of October 13, at Paliyad police station on the basis of a complaint by Paliyad police station Inspector PD Vanda on behalf of the State.
Subsequently, Raju Karpada and Pravin Ram went underground and appeared in public in Ahmedabad on October 16, from where they were arrested in this case.
Subsequently, in November 2025, a total of 38 accused were transferred to Rajkot jail including Raju Karpada and Pravin Ram, while 15 others were transferred to Amreli Jail, and 15 were left in Bhavnagar Jail.
Following these transfers, two FIRs were filed against Raju Karpada and the AAP social media team, in November 2025, while Karpada was in prison.
In the first FIR on November 1, filed on the basis of a complaint by Bhavnagar District Jail Superintendent DD Prajapati on behalf of the State, Raju Mera Karpada and the social media team of AAP, have been booked under BNS sections for promoting enmity between groups, forgery, using forged record as genuine, and concealing design to commit offence punishable with imprisonment. In this complaint, Jail Superintendent DD Prajapati stated that on October 31, he was made aware of a video published on social media on October 29, wherein he asked people to attend the Kisan Mahapanchayat organised by AAP in Surendranagar. The FIR states that Prajapati then questioned Karpada about the video who allegedly said that he had made the video after the Hadadad violence, and had sent it to the social media team of the party.
In the second FIR, also filed on November 1, on the basis of a complaint by Bhavnagar District Jail Jailer RT Solanki, unknown persons handling the social media accounts of AAP leaders Raju Karpada and Pravin Ram, were booked under BNS sections for defamation, as well as for identity theft under the Information Technology Act. In this complaint, Jailer RT Solanki stated that he saw on social media, specifically on the Facebook handles of Raju Karpada and Pravin Ram, that posts were being uploaded on these sites even though both persons were in judicial custody since October 20. The FIR alleged that those who were controlling these social media handles made it appear that the two undertrial prisoners were making the posts, this defaming the jail administration and misleading the public.
Curated by Dr. Elena Rodriguez
