Ahmedabad, Aug 24 (IANS) The Gujarat High Court on Monday refused to suspend the seven-year prison sentence imposed on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Chaitar Vasava in a 2023 assault and extortion case involving forest department officials, observing that the conduct attributed to an elected representative was prima facie not befitting the office he held.
Justice Vimal K Vyas rejected Vasava’s plea seeking suspension of his sentence and release on bail.
The MLA is currently lodged in Vadodara Central Jail. Despite his seven-year conviction, Vasava has not yet been disqualified as a member of the Legislative Assembly.
The court said that, as an MLA, Vasava should have guided aggrieved persons towards lawful remedies instead of allegedly intimidating and coercing government employees.
“The applicant being an MLA, ought to have guided the aggrieved persons to seek lawful remedies,” the court said.
The court also noted that Vasava had allegedly arranged and paid compensation to individuals who had encroached upon forest land and carried out unauthorised cultivation.
“Such conduct of the applicant, who is an MLA, raises the question of propriety in the context of the public office he holds,” it observed.
The High Court further took note of the prosecution’s contention that Vasava had continued to involve himself in further offences while already on bail in another case, despite a condition that he should not misuse the liberty granted to him.
“Such conduct, therefore, cannot be regarded as befitting the office held by him,” the court said, adding that suspending the sentence in such circumstances could create a perception that people in positions of power were beyond the reach of the law.
“The exercise of judicial discretion must necessarily be governed by the need to preserve public confidence in the administration of justice and the rule of law,” the court said.
The case dates back to October 30, 2023, after forest authorities removed unauthorised crops following registration of a forest offence.
According to the prosecution, forest officials were subsequently summoned to Vasava’s residence, where a forester was allegedly abused, slapped and threatened. A firearm was allegedly fired in the air to create fear.
The prosecution further alleged that the officials were coerced into paying Rs 60,000 the following day. An FIR was registered on November 2, 2023.
During the trial, the prosecution relied on witness testimonies, documentary evidence, call records and bank statements to establish the involvement of the accused.
On June 23, an Additional Sessions Court in Rajpipla sentenced Vasava, his wife Shakuntalaben, his personal assistant and six others to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment.
The Gujarat High Court has since granted relief to Shakuntalaben and some of the other convicts. Vasava’s case had also drawn the attention of the AAP’s national leadership.
On August 18, just six days before the High Court order, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann visited Vadodara Central Jail and met Vasava.
The two leaders had travelled to Gujarat for a two-day visit and were scheduled to meet the jailed MLA as part of their programme.
The meeting was not the first time Kejriwal and Mann had visited Vasava in custody. In January 2024, the two leaders had met Vasava and his wife at the Rajpipla sub-jail after their arrests in the same forest-officials case.
At the time, Kejriwal had publicly backed Vasava and alleged that he had been arrested for raising issues concerning tribal farmers.
The High Court’s latest order leaves Vasava in custody while his legal challenge to the conviction and sentence continues.
--IANS
mys/uk
