The Gujarat High Court on Thursday observed that once an FIR is quashed, news articles related to it should be deleted by the press as continuous circulation could potentially harm the goodwill of the person against whom the FIR was filed. However, the court did not pass any direction for deletion of the news articles at this stage. The observations were made by a bench of Chief Justice…
Popat, a seasoned criminal lawyer, will fight May 25 TRP Game Zone fire tragedy case pro bono
The state government on Thursday appointed advocate Virat Popat as special public prosecutor to represent the prosecution before the Gujarat High Court in the incident of Rajkot gaming zone tragedy which took lives of 27 people. Though the government decided on professional fees for his appearance, Popat decided to fight the case pro bono in good faith to bring justice to the victims’ families. A seasoned criminal lawyer, Popat is vice president of the Gujarat High Court Advocates’ Association. On May 25, fire started on the ground floor of the two-story building of the TRP Game Zone in Rajkot, reportedly caused during welding work and quickly engulfed the premises. There was only one exit on the first floor. Nearly 2,000 litres of diesel was stored at the TRP Game Zone for generators, while about 1,500 litres of petrol was stored for go-kart racing, which made the fire almost uncontrollable.
The Supreme’s direction implies a stay on only the particular FIR and not all FIRs filed under the Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to Gujarat in a plea challenging the Gujarat High Court’s verdict upholding the Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act in May as constitutionally valid. A division bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Augustine George Masih also stayed further proceedings in the FIR concerning the appellants in the interim, and kept the notices returnable for August.
The appellants — Kishan Boriya, Govind Boriya and Bharat Boriya — are facing a First Information Report (FIR) in Rajkot concerning a land purchase in the district’s Kotharia village. The petitioners have said they are bonafide purchasers and even though they made a declaration in a civil suit in 2019, pending before a civil judge in Rajkot, that they are ready and willing to forego their rights in the property, an FIR was filed against them in November 2021.
The petitioners, represented by Advocate Virat Popat, had filed a petition at the Gujarat High Court, challenging the constitutionality of the Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act along with challenging the registration of the FIR against them.
After the Gujarat High Court upheld the constitutional validity of the Act in a judgement dated May 9, dismissing a bunch of petitions numbering over a hundred, the doors opened for the state machinery to pursue criminal and civil proceedings under the Act.
The Supreme’s direction, however, implies a stay on only the particular FIR concerning the appellants and not all the FIRs lodged under the Act.
In a significant verdict, the Gujarat High Court today upheld the constitutional validity of the Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 2020, along with its allied rules. The Act is yet to receive Presidential assent.The ruling came from a bench comprising Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha P Mayee, who pronounced judgement on a batch of over 150 petitions challenging…
The Gujarat High Court today pronounced judgment acquitting a former BJP Member of Parliament Dinu Solanki and six others in the high-profile case of the murder of RTI activist Amit Jethwa (in Jully 2010). While doing so, a bench of Justice AS Supehia and Justice Vimal K Vyas sternly observed that the investigation in the case, right from its inception, appeared to be an…
79-Yr-Old Man And Four Of His Family Members Were Convicted By A Local Court For Assaulting Three People; Court Sentences Them To 10 Yrs In Prison
79-year-old man and four of his family members, convicted by a local court and sentenced to ten years imprisonment, have approached the Gujarat High Court seeking bail and suspension of the sentence. The five were convicted of assaulting three people in the year 2012. The HC after a primary hearing has admitted the appeal against the conviction and posted further hearing on June 5. The man and two others knocked on the HC’s doors after a district court in Porbandar on May 12 sentenced them to ten years imprisonment and also fined them. The convicts are Devabhai Kanabhai Odedara (79), Babubhai Kisabhai Odedadara (34) and his wife Seema and Vijay Kisabhai Odedara (44) and his wife Liluben. At present the male convicts are detained and lodged in Porbandar sub jails while the women convicts are at the Rajkot Central Jail. Their lawyer, Virat Popat submitted before the HC that an order issued by the lower court was not based on factual evidence in the case. The counsel pointed to contradictions in the versions given by doctors about the injuries sustained by the complainants. “The injuries are not serious and therefore they should not be convicted under section 307 of the IPC (attempt to murder). “One of the convicts is 79 years and given his physical condition he should be immediately released on bail. One of the lady convicts has an eight-month-old child,” the counsel said. As per the case details, the accused entered into a brawl with the complainants over construction on agricultural land and assaulted the latter with deadly weapons.
Gandhinagar: The result of Ahmedabad Bar Association election is out. Jagat Choksi has been elected as President, while Vinodkumar Bhatt is elected as Vice President. Kalpesh Patel is new Secretary while Vijaykumar Upadhyay has got elected as Treasurer.Polling for this election was held on 22nd December. There were 1872 voters and 50 candidates in this election. Bela Pandya has been elected as Women’s representative while Kirtikumar Shah is elected as Joint Secretary. Pujan Pandya, Diljitsingh Rakkad, Nirmal Dixit, Viral Agrawal, Dushyant Rathod, Parth Rawal, Umang Oza, Krunal Pandya, Paras Viramgami, Dhwanit Vyas, Arti Rajvaniya, Darshan Rawal, Anuj Shah, Bhavin Bhavsar, Dhruv Shah are elected as members of Executive Committee.
AHMEDABAD: Justice Gita Gopi of the Gujarat high court on Friday discharged former deputy superintendent of police (DySP) K M Vaghela from the 2003 Sadiq Jamal Mehtar encounter case.
With Vaghela’s discharge from this controversial two-decade-old case, seven of the eight accused cops have been discharged by the court for want of evidence of their involvement. Vaghela had to approach the high court after a special court rejected his discharge plea. His advocate, Virat Popat, argued that Vaghela should be granted the benefit of parity with the others.
AHMEDABAD: After four years of probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Amit Bhatnagar, the promoter of Vadodara-based Diamond Power Infrastructure Ltd (DPIL), was granted regular bail by Gujarat high court. Bhatnagar is charged with cheating banks to the tune of Rs 2,654 crore.
Bhatnagar was released on temporary bail by the court earlier and since then he has been out of jail. Justice Sonia Gokani on Wednesday granted him regular bail after he furnished a personal bond of Rs 2.5 crore and two sureties of Rs 50 lakh each. His passport, however, will not be released. The CBI counsel submitted to the court that the restrictions on his movement could be relaxed and the earlier condition of not leaving Vadodara city may be modified to allow him to travel within the country.
