Supreme Court grants AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava 3 days’ temporary bail to visit critically ill relative

“A release whose duration cannot, in practical terms, achieve the very purpose for which it is granted is a release on paper alone,” the petition stated, arguing that the limited duration undermined the purpose of allowing him to visit his relative.

The petition also contended that “incarceration is a curtailment of movement and not of personhood”, seeking relief that would allow Vasava to meet his relative during the medical emergency. The detailed order of the Supreme Court was awaited.

The petition also challenges the state’s reliance on the fact that Shantilal was described as Vasava’s “step-brother” (half-brother).

Vasava has argued that whether a sibling was described as a “brother, a step-brother or a half-brother” was immaterial to the medical emergency or Vasava’s obligation to attend to it. It contended that the state’s objection about the availability of other siblings did not address his specific plea that he was needed to arrange funds and further medical treatment for his brother, who was on life support.

Citing exemption from the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the petition argued that Vasava belongs to a Scheduled Tribe community governed by its own customs and that Section 2(2) of the Act excludes members of Scheduled Tribes from its purview, unless the Central Government directs otherwise by notification. On this basis, it questioned the relevance of the state’s reliance on the description of Shantilal as a step-brother in deciding the plea for temporary bail on humanitarian grounds. This was an argument advanced by Vasava in his petition, rather than a finding by the Supreme Court.

The latest relief follows an earlier order by the Gujarat HC granting Vasava temporary bail for one day on October 16, allowing him to be released from 7 am to 7 pm on the day of his actual release, including travel time. The court had directed that he be released on a personal bond of Rs 10,000, with a police escort provided at the state’s expense.

However, the one-day relief did not result in a hospital visit. Senior Advocate I H Syed, appearing for Vasava in the HC, had told this newspaper that the police escort arrived at Vadodara Central Jail around 11 am on October 17. By then, Vasava declined to leave the jail, Syed said, as the remaining time would not have been sufficient to meet his brother and make arrangements to shift him to a better-equipped hospital.

Vasava’s original application before the HC had sought 30 days’ temporary bail, from October 17 to November 17, to appear for his first-semester Master of Social Work examinations at Balhans College, where he had enrolled on October 5. During the hearing, however, his counsel did not press the examination-related ground and instead sought temporary release to visit his critically ill relative.

The state opposed the request, arguing that other family members, including two of the brother’s biological siblings, could look after him. The High Court held that a one-day visit would “meet the ends of justice”.

As per the petition, Vasava’s half-brother, Shantilal, allegedly “consumed monocrotophos” at his home in Devjipura village, within the limits of Songadh police station in Tapi district, around noon on October 12. He was initially taken to Songadh Referral Hospital and later shifted to the intensive care unit of New Civil Hospital in Surat.

Vasava has been in jail since his conviction in June this year. On June 23, a sessions court in Rajpipla sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment in a case involving alleged threats and assault against forest department officials after the department removed crops said to have been cultivated on encroached forest land.

The prosecution had also alleged that Rs 60,000 was extorted.

The Gujarat HC admitted his appeal on July 31 but rejected his plea to suspend the sentence on August 24. In September, Vasava was granted seven days’ conditional temporary bail to attend the Gujarat Assembly session.