The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court on Thursday adjourned the hearing on a petition by Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat, husband of the United Progressive Alliance-Left presidential candidate Pratibha Patil, seeking dismissal of criminal proceeding on charges of abetting a schoolteacher's suicide to July 12.

Justice A P Lavande adjourned the hearing.

One Kisan Dhage, teacher in a school run by Vidya Prasarak Mandal, which is headed by Shekhawat in neighbouring Buldana district, had allegedly committed suicide on November 15, 1998, and had blamed Shekhawat for ending his life.

Mangala, wife of the deceased, had approached the Judicial Magistrate First Class at Jalgaon-Jamod in Buldana district with a private criminal complaint alleging the police had not booked offence of her husband's suicide.

The JMFC had later directed the police to start criminal proceedings in the case.

Shekhawat's revision petition was dismissed by the JMFC prompting him to approach the High Court. Justice Lavande had issued notices on April 11 and stayed the proceedings against Shekhawat and three others in the case.