The Supreme Court has sought Gujarat government’s response to petition filed by sacked IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt challenging his conviction in a 1990 custodial death case.
Bhatt, along with Pravinsinh Zala were sentenced to life imprisonment by a Jamnagar sessions court in 2019 after being found of torturing and murdering a 40-year-old man. Both were found guilty under Sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), causing hurt), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
A bench led by Justice Vikram Nath issued notice on Bhatt’s petition and tagged it with two similar appeals arising out of the same judgment passed by the Gujarat high court on January 9 this year.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal along with Devadatt Kamat appearing for the former IPS officer said that the high court failed to consider material contradictions in the prosecution case against him and claimed an acquittal as Bhatt has remained incarcerated since his arrest in September 2018 without getting bail or parole for a single day. The bench, also comprising Justice PB Varale agreed to consider this issue as it further informed Sibal about the two pending cases in the top court.
Posting the matter after four weeks, the bench tagged Bhatt’s appeal along with a petition filed by the state challenging the high court judgment and another by two co-accused Shaileshkumar Pandya and Pravinsingh Jadeja, who were granted protection from surrendering in March this year.
Prior to the HC judgment, a Jamnagar court had convicted Bhatt along with others for offences of murder under section 302 IPC and sentenced him to life term in prison.
The case pertains to the infamous rath yatra by BJP veteran LK Advani on October 30, 1990, when Bhatt served was Jamnagar district’s newly appointed additional superintendent of police.
He had detained over 150 people in Jamjodhpur town after a communal riot erupted. Prabhudas Vaishnani was one of the detainees who died in hospital.
Back then in Bihar, a person who was detained for his alleged involvement in a violence-related incident, had died in a hospital after his release. His brother alleged that he was physically assaulted in jail leading to his death.
Bhatt, a 1988 batch IPS officer of Gujarat cadre, was sacked in 2015 for “unauthorised absence” from service.
In his appeal filed through advocate Rajesh Inamdar, Bhatt said there was no medical evidence to link him with the allegation and there was no nexus between the alleged physical assault and the victim’s death that took place after 18 days.
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