7 years, 1 WhatsApp text: Gujarat again challenges AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava’s acquittal

In 2019, a WhatsApp message was allegedly posted in a group called Best Buddies in Life, with over 300 members, in Dediapada taluka of Narmada district, Gujarat. The message, allegedly sexually coloured, was claimed to have been sent by Chaitar Vasava, an organiser for the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) at the time. An FIR was lodged 49 days later, and in May 2023, Chaitar Vasava was acquitted by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate.

However, the Gujarat government appealed the acquittal, and the case reached the Gujarat High Court after the delay in filing a criminal revision challenge. The High Court upheld the acquittal, but the state government moved the High Court once again, leading to the current appeal. In a separate case, Chaitar Vasava was convicted in June 2026 for allegedly intimidating forest officials during an encroachment removal drive, receiving a seven-year rigorous imprisonment sentence.