Gujarat AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava meets half brother fighting for life in hospital

After he got three days’ temporary bail from the Supreme Court, Chaitar Vasava, the incarcerated Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Dediapada, visited his critically ill half brother in hospital in Surat on Monday (November 2) afternoon.

Chaitar Vasava’s brother Shantilal Vasava was admitted to the New Civil Hospital in the city after he allegedly attempted to kill himself by consuming pesticide on October 12. Chaitar met the doctors attending on Shantilal in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital.

The doctors are learned to have told him that the patient remained critical and on life support. Chaitar’s visit to see Shantilal on Monday consequently took place in accordance with arrangements made by police. He was accompanied by the general secretary of the Gujarat AAP, Manoj Sorathiya, and several other leaders of the party, apart from police officers.

Chaitar spoke with Shantilal’s wife and sister who were present in the hospital, and spent some time with his half brother. He assured his sister-in-law of all possible help to ensure that Shantilal recovers completely. Sorathiya said: “Shantilal Vasava’s condition is not good, he is still on life support.

We spoke to the doctors who told us that recovery would take some days, as his body is currently not responding to medicines.” The party, he said, is working to move Shantilal to Delhi for treatment later this week. “We have taken copies of Shantilal Vasava’s medical records, and consulted doctors at a larger hospital in Delhi.

Our team is coordinating, and hopefully within the next three days, we will move Shantilal to Delhi,” Sorathiya said. It was a critical time for the family, Sorathiya said, and “our party leaders and workers are in support of Chaitar Vasava and we are committed to help his family in every way.” A sessions court in Rajpipla in Gujarat’s Narmada district on June 23 sentenced Chaitar 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 also alleged that Rs 60,000 was extorted from the officials. The MLA had initially moved the Gujarat High Court for 30 days’ temporary bail from October 17 to November 17 to appear for his first-semester Master of Social Work examination at Balhans College, where he had enrolled on October 5.

During the hearing, however, counsel for Chaitar did not press the exam-related ground, and instead sought temporary release to visit the critically ill Shantilal. The state opposed the request, arguing that other members of the family, including two of Shantilal’s biological siblings, could look after him.

On October 16, the HC granted Chaitar temporary bail for one day, holding that a one-day visit to the hospital would “meet the ends of justice”. The court allowed him to be released from 7 am to 7 pm, including travel time.

Chaitar was directed to furnish a personal bond of Rs 10,000, and a police escort was to be provided to him at the state’s expense. However, the hospital visit did not take place. Senior Advocate I H Syed, appearing for Vasava in the HC, told The Indian Express that when the police escort arrived at Vadodara Central Jail around 11 am on October 17, Chaitar declined to leave, saying there wasn’t enough time to meet his brother and make arrangements to move him to a better-equipped hospital.

In the Supreme Court, Chaitar challenged the practicality of the relief granted by the HC, contending that the journey between the jail and the hospital would take around three hours each way, leaving him with little time to meet relatives and doctors, and make arrangements for better medical care.

As per the petition, Vasava’s 35-year-old half-brother allegedly “consumed monocrotophos” (an organophosphate insecticide that is acutely toxic to humans) at his home in Devjipura village under the Songadh police station area in Tapi district around noon on October 12.

He was initially taken to Songadh Referral Hospital and later moved to the ICU of New Civil Hospital in Surat. Chaitar, an influential tribal leader who became MLA in 2022, was earlier granted seven days’ conditional temporary bail to attend the Gujarat Assembly session in September.

The HC had rejected his plea to suspend the sentence on August 24. Kamal Saiyed is a senior Correspondent for The Indian Express, providing extensive, on-the-ground co... Read More