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Illegal mining case: Disqualified Congress MLA Bhaga Barad moves Gujarat High Court seeking stay on conviction

Barad was convicted by a magisterial court in Sutrapada on March 1 against which he had appealed before the sessions court thrice so far—once successfully and twice unsuccessfully

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File photo of Gujarat High Court, and (inset) Bhaga Barad
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Disqualified Congress MLA Bhaga Barad on Tuesday moved the Gujarat High Court for the second time in a fortnight challenging a Veraval sessions court's repeated refusal to stay his conviction in a mineral theft case. Barad was convicted by a magisterial court in Sutrapada on March 1 against which he had appealed before the sessions court thrice so far—once successfully and twice unsuccessfully.

The High Court had remanded the matter back to the Veraval court on June 26 for not passing a reasoned order while rejecting Barad's plea on April 24. However, the Veraval court on July 3 once again rejected Barad's appeal for stay on his conviction while passing a 14-page reasoned order.

The Veraval court initially stayed the conviction on the first occasion on March 7, the order was set aside by the high court for not being a reasoned one, with a direction to hear the case afresh, after the state government appealed against the same. During the second time, the Veraval court rejected Barad's plea on April 24, against which he moved the High Court.

The High Court had set aside the order again on June 26 for not being a reasoned one and directed the Veraval court to hear the matter again and pass a reasoned order. The Veraval court again rejected Barad's plea on July 3, against which he has now has moved the High Court. While the case was scheduled to be taken up on Tuesday, the matter got adjourned for a day and now the court will take up the hearing on Wednesday.

Notably, Barad has been fighting a bitter legal battle with the state government over the hasty decision of the assembly speaker Rajendra Trivedi of disqualifying him on March 5 immediately after his conviction by a Sutrapada court in the mineral theft case on March 1. He is also fighting the Election Commission's (EC) decision to announce the bypoll for Talala constituency, despite there being a stay on his conviction granted by a Veraval court on March 7.

In a major relief to Barad, the Supreme Court had on April 1 stayed the by-election announced by the Election Commission (EC) for his Talala constituency on April 23 along with voting for the Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat. The disqualified MLA had challenged the hasty declaration of bypoll for his constituency by the EC before the Gujarat High Court. However, a division bench of the high court had rejected his plea, against which he had to approach the apex court.

FAILED APPEALS

  • Disqualified Congress MLA Bhaga Barad was convicted for illegal mining 
  • He was sentenced to an imprisonment of two-years-and-nine-months 
  • He had appealed in sessions court for stay thrice so far—once successfully and twice unsuccessfully
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