A Bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Prasanna B Varale announced that Bhatt’s appeal would be heard alongside other related appeals.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday(27th Aug) issued a notice to the Gujarat Government concerning former police officer Sanjiv Bhatt’s appeal against his conviction and life sentence in a 1990 custodial death case.
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A Bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Prasanna B Varale announced that Bhatt’s appeal would be heard alongside other related appeals.
The Court directed, “Issue notice returnable in four weeks.”
Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Devadatt Kamat represented Bhatt, while Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appeared for the State of Gujarat.
Earlier in January, the Gujarat High Court had rejected Bhatt’s appeal against a Jamnagar sessions court verdict in the custodial death case, prompting Bhatt to file the current appeal through Advocate Rajesh Gulab Inamdar.
In May last year, the Supreme Court denied Bhatt’s request to submit additional evidence before the High Court. This decision came after (now-retired) Justice MR Shah declined to recuse himself from the case.
The case traces back to 1990 when Bhatt, serving as the additional superintendent of police in Jamnagar district, detained 133 individuals under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) following communal riots.
These riots were sparked by the Bharat Bandh called by the BJP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on October 30, 1990, protesting the arrest of then-BJP chief Lal Krishna Advani, who had launched a Rath Yatra to Ayodhya over the Ram Mandir issue.
One of the detainees, Prabhudas Vaishnani, passed away after being released from custody. His family alleged that Vaishnani was subjected to custodial torture by Bhatt and his colleagues, claiming that the detainees were beaten with sticks, forced to crawl on their elbows, and denied water, which led to Vaishnani’s kidney damage.
After nine days in custody, Vaishnani died of renal failure shortly after being released on bail.
Following Vaishnani’s death, an FIR was lodged against Bhatt and several other officers, accusing them of custodial torture. The case was initially taken up by a Magistrate in 1995, but the trial was stayed until 2011 due to a stay order from the Gujarat High Court. Once the stay was vacated, the trial commenced.
In June 2019, the Sessions Court in Jamnagar district found Bhatt and police constable Pravinsinh Zala guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment. They were convicted under sections 302 (murder), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), and 506 (1) (punishment for the offence of criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Additionally, police constables Pravinsinh Jadeja, Anopsinh Jethva, Kesubha Dolubha Jadeja, and police sub-inspectors Shailesh Pandya and Dipakkumar Bhagwandas Shah were also convicted of custodial torture under Sections 323 and 506 (1) of the IPC.
Bhatt, Zala, Shah, and Pandya challenged their conviction by moving the High Court in 2019. However, the appeal was dismissed by a bench comprising Justice Ashutosh Shastri and Justice Sandeep N. Bhatt. The bench observed that the reasoning given by the Jamnagar Court was correct, and there was no reason to interfere with the order of conviction.
Case Title: Sanjiv Kumar Rajendrabhai Bhatt vs State of Gujarat
