The Gujarat government has moved the High Court to appeal the acquittal of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Chaitar Vasava in a 2019 case involving allegations of sending a “sexually-coloured” WhatsApp message.
Long before his landmark win from the Dediapada Assembly constituency in 2022, Vasava was an organiser for the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP). During that time, he was booked following a complaint by the wife of a WhatsApp group member who alleged that a message posted by him was sexually offensive.
Seven years, a trial, and a major electoral victory later, the message has returned to trouble Vasava, now AAP’s state working president and one of its most prominent tribal voices in Gujarat.
The 38-year-old leader is currently in jail following a separate June 2026 conviction for allegedly intimidating forest officials during an encroachment removal drive in his constituency.
The origins of the case
The case centres on a WhatsApp group called ‘Best Buddies in Life’, which had more than 300 members, in Dediapada taluka of Narmada district, when Chaitar Vasava was an organiser in the BTP founded by Mahesh Vasava, son of tribal leader and former Janata Dal (U) MLA Chhotu Vasava.
On October 20, 2019, during a discussion over a village drainage issue, a message alleged to be sexually coloured was posted in the group of which the complainant’s husband was a part. The source of the message was claimed to be Chaitar Vasava’s mobile number.
The FIR was lodged only on December 8, 2019, around 49 days after the alleged incident. The case eventually went to trial before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate at Dediapada. On May 11, 2023, Vasava was acquitted, with the court giving him the benefit of the doubt. Gujarat government appealed in the same year, but on February 4, 2026, the Additional Sessions Judge at Rajpipla upheld the acquittal.
On August 4, the state government moved the Gujarat High Court after the latter condoned the delay in filing a criminal revision challenging Vasava’s acquittal, clearing the way for that challenge to be heard on merits.
The state had until May 7, 2026, to file a criminal revision application to challenge the acquittal before the High Court, but it filed only on July 14.
Public Prosecutor Hardik Dave submitted before the court that the delay was caused by the “state’s mandatory internal approvals process” as clearances had to be obtained from the Directorate of Prosecution, the Home Department, and the Deputy Chief Minister’s office, followed by preparation of a Government Resolution and transmission of papers to the High Court.
The oral order of Justice S V Pinto held that the explanation was “bona fide, the delay was not deliberate,” and refusal to condone it would deprive the state of its statutory remedy.
‘Not enough evidence to prove case’
The prosecution’s biggest problem was establishing who sent the message, one of the grounds that paved the way for Vasava’s acquittal in the trial and sessions court, which found gaps in the chain connecting the WhatsApp text to him.
As per the February 2026 order of the sessions court, upholding the 2023 acquittal, the forensic examination did recover WhatsApp material from a mobile phone seized during the investigation. The material included the ‘Best Buddies in Life’ group and the allegedly objectionable message. But the forensic evidence also showed that the seized phone had been received without a SIM card or memory card.
The prosecution could not satisfactorily establish the connection between the device examined by the forensic experts, the mobile number attributed to Vasava and the WhatsApp account from which the message had allegedly originated.
The prosecution also produced screenshots of the alleged WhatsApp exchange and an email complaint sent to the National Commission for Women. But the courts found deficiencies in the manner in which the electronic evidence had been proved.
Among the issues was the absence of the certificate required under Section 65-B(4) of the Indian Evidence Act for the relevant secondary electronic evidence. The court also noted that questions remained about when and from which device the screenshot had been taken and when and from which computer the email had been sent.
The order of the sessions judge notes that documents relating to the mobile-number connection were also not satisfactorily proved.
The prosecution had examined a large number of witnesses, but several members of the WhatsApp group had no direct knowledge of who had posted the message.
Even the panch witnesses did not support the prosecution’s seizure proceedings. In the end, the sessions court found that the prosecution had not crossed the threshold of proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
On Thursday, considering the submissions of the state prosecutor, the High Court issued notice to Chaitar. The court will hear the appeal on September 28 next.
Why is Chaitar Vasava jail?
In June this year, an Additional Sessions Court in Rajpipla convicted Vasava and eight others, including his wife Shakuntala Vasava, in a 2023 case involving the alleged intimidation of forest officials using a firearm during an encroachment removal drive. He was sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment.
Vasava has challenged the conviction in the High Court, where the case is being heard, disputing the firearm evidence, pointing out that no weapon, cartridge or bullet was recovered and that there is no ballistic or gunshot-residue report. Vasava’s lawyers have also challenged the alleged payment and highlighted contradictions in witness accounts.
The state, meanwhile, has argued that Vasava’s status as an elected MLA makes his alleged conduct particularly serious and also mentioned the antecedents against him.
Since he was elected MLA in 2022, six FIRs have been lodged against him.
The Gujarat government has challenged AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava’s acquittal in a 2019 WhatsApp message case (Photo: X/GauriDesaiAAP) 
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