The Gujarat High Court rejected the appeal against the sentence of former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in the 1990 custodial death case, upholding the life sentence.
A division bench of Justices Ashutosh Shastri and Sandeep Bhatt of the High Court upheld the sentences imposed on Sanjeev Bhatt and co-accused Praveen Singh Jhala under sections 302 (murder), 323 (causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. The court also dismissed an appeal by the state government, seeking enhancement of the sentences of five other accused who were acquitted but convicted under Sections 323 and 506.
While Sanjeev Bhatt and Jhala are in jail, the court canceled the bail bonds of the five accused who are outside the jail. The High Court said that from the evidence on record we are of the opinion that the trial court has rightly convicted the accused (five) for the offenses punishable under Section 323 . The Jamnagar Sessions Court on June 20, 2019 convicted Sanjeev Bhatt and another police officer Praveen Singh Jhala for murder.
On October 30, 1990, around 150 people were detained by the police in Jamjodhpur town following the communal riots in Jamjodhpur city following a bandh called to protest against BJP leader LK Advani’s Rath Yatra for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Sanjeev Bhatt was Additional Superintendent of Police at that time.
Prabhudas Vaishnani, who was detained, died in the hospital after his release. Vaishnani’s brother had accused Bhatt and six other police officers of causing death due to custodial torture. On September 5, 2018, Sanjeev Bhatt was arrested for falsely implicating a person in a drug case. The hearing of this case is going on. Sanjeev Bhatt is also a co-accused in the 2002 Gujarat riots case of fabricating bogus evidence, along with activist Teesta Setalvad and former Gujarat Director General of Police RB Sreekumar.
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