The Supreme Court of India has dismissed a bail plea filed by former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt. The former IPS officer is undergoing life imprisonment due to his involvement in a 1990 custodial death case.
However, while hearing the matter, Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta denied him relief and ordered for his appeal hearing to be expedited.
The Supreme Court of India has dismissed a bail plea filed by former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt. The former IPS officer is undergoing life imprisonment due to his involvement in a 1990 custodial death case.
The plea was filed by the former officer for bail and the suspension of his sentence. However, while hearing the matter, Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta denied him relief and ordered for his appeal hearing to be expedited.
"We are not inclined to enlarge the appellant Sanjiv Kumar Bhatt on bail. However, we make it clear that the observations made herein above are restricted to the prayer for bail only and will have no bearing on the appeals of the appellant and the co-accused. The prayers sought by the appellant, Sanjiv Kumar Bhatt, for the grant of bail are dismissed. Hearing of the appeal is directed to be expedited,” read the order issued by the top court.
Sanjiv Bhatt was sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1990 custodial death case and 20 years in jail in another 1996 case.
In the 1990 case, Bhatt, who was then the additional superintendent of police in Gujarat라이브 바카라 Jamnagar, had allegedly detained around 133 people under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) (TADA) Act during a communal riot in Jamjodhpur. The riots followed LK Advani's Rath Yatra in October.
18 days later, one of the detainees, Prabhudas Vaishnani, died in a hospital after he was released, allegedly due to torture.
In 2019, a trial court in Jamnagar convicted three policemen, including Bhatt for their roles in the custodial death. This conviction was upheld by the Gujarat High Court in 2024.