Ahmedabad: Her husband died five years ago, but Asha Gupta He kept alive his fight to clear his name in the 19-year-old extortion case for which he was convicted. His fight came to fruition on Tuesday when the Gujarat High Court declared Lalit Gupta The innocent was slapped in a criminal case against him in 2002.
Gupta with his friend Ratnakar Rahurkar The Ravpura police had registered a case on charges of extortion and intimidation. In 2008, a magistrate court in Vadodara acquitted him of two serious charges but convicted him of minor charges and sentenced him to simple imprisonment for three years.
Two years later, a sessions court upheld the conviction. Both the friends approached the High Court. During the pendency of his appeal, Gupta passed away in March 2016 due to cancer. His widow decided to join the trial to erase the stigma of the sentence and continue the legal battle for the acquittal of her late husband. Normally, the appeal filed by Gupta would have lapsed on account of his demise. Last week, the High Court had acquitted Gupta and Rahurkar, setting aside the decisions of both the lower courts.
While acquitting both, the HC observed that the main witness to the threats and demands was not examined by the prosecution. The court had also not taken on record the affidavit of the witness. Gupta was a Congress leader and his friend was a media person, but the trial courts left no stone unturned to ascertain the truth in the case. “Why the prosecution should do this cannot be a mystery, as the time of the alleged incident is immediately after the 2002 riots and the accused, as per records, was a local leader of a political party not in power at that time and a media person May be unintentional, the courts below also facilitated this prosecution scheme,” the HC said in its order.
After being acquitted, Gupta’s elder son Hitesh expressed satisfaction. “Our family was upset because my father was implicated in a false case. The punishment made the situation worse. Even on his deathbed, he was worried about the matter. After his demise, we decided to fight the case and delete his name. My mother joined the trial as the legal heir.” hitesh He further said that the criminal case has left a deep impact on the family.
“I became a lawyer, my younger brother is a judicial officer and the youngest brother has also become a lawyer now,” he said.
Gupta with his friend Ratnakar Rahurkar The Ravpura police had registered a case on charges of extortion and intimidation. In 2008, a magistrate court in Vadodara acquitted him of two serious charges but convicted him of minor charges and sentenced him to simple imprisonment for three years.
Two years later, a sessions court upheld the conviction. Both the friends approached the High Court. During the pendency of his appeal, Gupta passed away in March 2016 due to cancer. His widow decided to join the trial to erase the stigma of the sentence and continue the legal battle for the acquittal of her late husband. Normally, the appeal filed by Gupta would have lapsed on account of his demise. Last week, the High Court had acquitted Gupta and Rahurkar, setting aside the decisions of both the lower courts.
While acquitting both, the HC observed that the main witness to the threats and demands was not examined by the prosecution. The court had also not taken on record the affidavit of the witness. Gupta was a Congress leader and his friend was a media person, but the trial courts left no stone unturned to ascertain the truth in the case. “Why the prosecution should do this cannot be a mystery, as the time of the alleged incident is immediately after the 2002 riots and the accused, as per records, was a local leader of a political party not in power at that time and a media person May be unintentional, the courts below also facilitated this prosecution scheme,” the HC said in its order.
After being acquitted, Gupta’s elder son Hitesh expressed satisfaction. “Our family was upset because my father was implicated in a false case. The punishment made the situation worse. Even on his deathbed, he was worried about the matter. After his demise, we decided to fight the case and delete his name. My mother joined the trial as the legal heir.” hitesh He further said that the criminal case has left a deep impact on the family.
“I became a lawyer, my younger brother is a judicial officer and the youngest brother has also become a lawyer now,” he said.
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