Gujarat High Court upholds conviction, life term of Sanjiv Bhatt in 1990 custodial death case

In a major setback to former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Sanjiv Bhatt, the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday dismissed his appeal against the conviction and life sentence imposed on him by a Jamnagar sessions court in a custodial death case [Sanjiv Bhatt vs State of Gujarat]..A division bench of Justices Ashutosh Shastri and Sandeep Bhatt upheld the sessions court's verdict. "The trial court has rightly convicted the appellants. We uphold the said decision and dismiss the appeals," the bench said while pronouncing the judgment. A detailed copy of the order is yet to be made available. .The case pertains to an incident which took place in 1990 when Bhatt was the additional superintendent of police in Jamnagar district. He had detained nearly 133 persons under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activites (Prevention) Act (TADA) after a communal riot broke out in a town in Jamnagar. The riots took place after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had called for a Bharat Bandh on October 30, 1990. This was called to protest the arrest of Lal Krishna Advani, the then BJP chief, who had started a Rath Yatra procession to Ayodhya for the Ram Mandir issue. Among the detained persons, one Prabhudas Vaishnani died after being released from custody. His family alleged that he was subjected to custodial torture by Bhatt and his colleagues. The family alleged that the persons detained were recklessly beaten up with sticks and were compelled to do certain acts like crawling on elbows. They weren't even allowed to drink water, which damaged Viashnani's kidneys, it was alleged. Vaishnani was in police custody for nine days. After being released on bail, Vaishnani died of renal failure. Subsequently, an FIR was registered against Sanjiv Bhatt and other officers for custodial death and cognizance was taken by a Magistrate in 1995.A total of seven police officers were accused in the case including two sub-inspectors and three police constables. Sanjivkumar Bhatt IPS, Dipakkumar Bhagwandas Shah PSI, Shaileshkumar Labhshankar Pandya PSI, Pravinsinh Bavubha Zala PC, Pravinsinh Jorubha Jadeja PC, Anopsinh Mohbbatsinh Jethva PC and Kesubha Dolubha Jadeja PC were the accused in the case.