Setback for Bhatt in custodial death case

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to give relief to suspended Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a custodial death case.

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to give relief to suspended Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a custodial death case.

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A bench of Justices BS Chauhan and TS Thakur declined to entertain Bhatt's petition challenging the Gujarat High Court order that dismissed his plea to quash the criminal proceedings in the 21-year-old case. Bhatt was accused of being involved in the custodial death of a detainee.

The case, which is is pending before a court in Jamnagar, dates back to 1990 when Bhatt was posted as an additional superintendent of police in Jamnagar. According to the prosecution, the suspended IPS officer had detained around 150 persons during a communal riot in Jam Jodhpur town. One of the detainees, Prabhudas Vaishnani, had died in a hospital after his release.

Vaishnani's brother had lodged an FIR against Bhatt and six other police officers accusing them of physically torturing his sibling in detention. He alleged that Vaishnani succumbed to his injuries on account of custodial torture.

The Gujarat high court had on October 10 allowed the trial court to frame charges against Bhatt. The court also permitted the state government to withdraw its plea seeking to drop charges against Bhatt.

The state government's plea before the high court to withdraw charges against Bhatt and other police officers was pending since 1996. The state government had refused sanction for the IPS officer's prosecution.

Also, the trial court in Jamnagar had refused to accept the closure report filed in the case.