Ahmedabad, Jul 2 The Gujarat High Court on Thursday granted bail to a woman farmer with a newborn child and who was among nine people -- including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Chaitar Vasava -- sentenced to seven years in jail by a court in June in an extortion and assault case.
Hearing an appeal against conviction and suspension of sentence filed by five of the nine convicts, Justice VK Vyas granted bail to one of them, Shakuntala Baliram Vasava, after public prosecutor Hardik Dave submitted at the outset that she may be granted relief as she has an 18-day-old child to take care of.
The five appellants, all farmers who were convicted of illegal cultivation on a forest land, threat and collection of extortion money from Gujarat forest department officials, had together moved the bail plea before the HC.
Those seeking relief excluded the four other convicts in the case -- AAP MLA Vasava, his wife, personal assistant (PA) Jitendra Vasava, and one Rinkesh Vasava.
Advocate IA Syed, who represented the five convicts, requested the HC to also consider granting bail to the woman's husband, Balirambhai (also found guilty in the case), as she has nobody to take care of.
The prosecution objected to the request and said matters of all other convicts may be heard on merits, after which the HC adjourned the hearing to July 7.
On June 23, a sessions court at Rajpipla town of Narmada district sentenced AAP MLA Vasava, his wife, PA and six others to seven years in jail for assaulting forest department officials and extorting Rs 60,000 from them following their action against illegal cultivation on government forest land.
They were found found guilty of assault, criminal intimidation, and extortion of forest officials.
According to prosecution, forest department personnel had removed unauthorised crops after registering an offence, following which officials were summoned to Chaitar Vasava's residence in his assembly constituency Dediapada in Narmada district on October 30, 2023.
There, a forest department official was abused, slapped by the Opposition MLA, and threatened, while a weapon was reportedly fired in the air to create fear. The next day, forest department officials were coerced into paying Rs 60,000, said the prosecution.
An FIR was registered on November 2, 2023, in connection with the incident.
