Supreme Court grants three-day temporary bail to Gujarat AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava to visit ailing step-brother

The Supreme Court has granted threeday temporary bail to Aam Aadmi Party MLA Chaitar Vasava who was sentenced to seven years in jail by a Gujarat court in a 2023 criminal case to attend to his ailing stepbrotherA bench of Justices Vikram Nath Sandeep Mehta and Aparesh Kumar Singh which considered the medical documents placed on record said the request made by the petitioner merits consideration on humanitarian groundsThe critical condition of the petitioners stepbrother constitutes a circumstance warranting indulgence the bench saidIt said no prejudice was likely to be caused by permitting Vasava to attend to his ailing stepbrother for a short duration particularly when his liberty can be adequately regulated by imposing stringent conditionsThe top court passed the order on Tuesday while hearing Vasavas plea challenging the Gujarat High Courts October 16 orderThe high court had permitted him to be released on temporary bail for a period of one day from 7 AM to 7 PM to enable him to attend to his stepbrother who is stated to be in a critical condition and undergoing treatment at a hospital in SuratVasava had sought temporary bail for 30 days before the high court In its order the apex court noted that the petitioner was convicted and sentenced to sevenyear jail in a criminal caseIt further noted that the high court had on July 31 admitted his appeal against conviction but his application seeking suspension of sentence was rejected on August 24Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Shadan Farasat appearing for the petitioner told the apex court that oneday interim bail granted by the high court was absolutely inadequate having regard to the critical condition of his stepbrother the distance between jail and hospital and the need to make arrangements for his further treatmentSolicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Gujarat government opposed the prayer and said the petitioner and his stepbrother were not on talking termsHaving considered the medical documents placed on record and the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case we are of the considered view that the request made on behalf of the petitioner merits consideration on humanitarian grounds the bench saidWhile modifying the high courts order the bench directed that Vasava be released on temporary bail for three days from the date of his actual release upon furnishing a personal bond of Rs 25000 to the satisfaction of the jail authority concernedThe petitioner shall be escorted by the minimum police security from the concerned jail to Surat and back The expenses towards police escort transportation necessitated by the temporary release shall be borne entirely by the petitioner it saidThe bench directed that Vasava would not address any public gathering participate in any political activity interact with the media or make any public statement during the period of temporary bailThe petitioner shall surrender before the superintendent of the concerned jail immediately upon expiry of the aforesaid period of temporary bail without awaiting any further direction or notice it said while disposing of the petitionOn June 23 a trial court in Gujarat had sentenced Vasava his wife and seven others to seven years imprisonment in a 2023 case of assaulting forest officials and extortionThe incident occurred on October 30 2023 and an FIR was registered on November 2 2023 Out of the nine convicts in the case the high court had granted bail to Vasavas wife and some othersThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever