After languishing years in jail, a 30-year-complaint made by Mahesh Chitroda against Sanjiv Bhatt to be withdrawn.
Sanjiv Bhatt, former Indian Police Service had boldly crusaded for the cause of the victims of the Gujarat 2002 riots. Now after three decades, the complainant wants to withdraw the complaint. The reasons for this mysterious withdrawal are unknown.
Three decades after filing a criminal complaint against former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and other cops in a case of custodial torture in Jamnagar in October 1990, the complainant on Tuesday announced to the Gujarat high court that he wants to withdraw the complaint. Justice Nikhil Kariel, who has been hearing the quashing petition for over a week now, asked the complainant, Mahesh Chitroda, to file an affidavit in this regard through his lawyer and posted further hearing on March 31. “Let something come on record. We have invested so much time in this matter. So much constructive work could have been done. Since there is a flip-flop, in this case, let us wait for an affidavit to be filed,” the judge said.
The complaints of custodial torture filed by Chitroda and two others, Ravjibhai Harjibhai and Chetan Jani, were related to the incident that took place on October 30, 1990, in Jamkhambhaliya police station where one Prabhudas Vaishnani succumbed to his injuries. Bhatt was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. He is still in jail. (However, reports say that he was not on duty at that time). During that time, Bhatt was the additional superintendent of police in Jamnagar.
Upon a complaint of rioting, the police had rounded up 133 persons including Vaishnani and the three complainants. After Chitroda, Ravjibhai and Jani filed private complaints, summons were issued against the police officers including Bhatt in 1992.
The state government filed an application for withdrawal of charges which was accepted by the court. However, the order of summons was on record and this resulted in a series of litigations. In 1996, Pravin Zala, a police officer, filed a quashing petition in the high court against the summons and the complaint. In 1999, Bhatt also approached the HC for similar reliefs.
The high court had earlier suppressed two complaints filed by Ravjibhai and Jani, and arguments for quelling Chitroda’s complaint were underway for quite some time. As Bhatt’s advocate Somnath Vats and the public prosecutor were arguing the case, advocate V H Patel informed the court about the complainant’s decision to withdraw the complaint from the lower court. So, prosecutor Mitesh Amin said the state government would have no objection if the complainant chose to do so. Besides his conviction to life imprisonment in the custodial death case, Bhatt has been charged with planting contraband to frame a Rajasthan lawyer in Palanpur.
Sanjiv Bhatt is a former Indian Police Service officer of the Gujarat cadre known for his role in filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court of India against the then Chief Minister of the Government of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, concerning Modi’s alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. He claimed to have attended a meeting, during which Modi allegedly asked top police officials to let Hindus vent their anger against the Muslims. However, the Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court of India decided that Sanjiv Bhatt did not attend any such meeting, and dismissed his allegations.
In 2015, Bhatt was removed from the police service, on the ground of “unauthorized absence”. In October 2015, the Supreme Court quashed Bhatt’s plea for constituting a special investigation team (SIT) for cases filed against him by Gujarat Government. The court lifted a stay on his trial in these cases and asked him to face prosecution. The court observed that, “Bhatt was in active touch with leaders of rival political parties, was being tutored by NGOs, was involved in politics and activism of creating pressure, even upon the 3-judge bench of this court, amicus, and many others”.
Sanjiv Bhatt is married to Shweta Bhatt and he is a Kashmiri Pandit. He earned an MTech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1985. He has two children, Akashi Bhatt and Shantanu Bhatt
Recently, Aakashi, his daughter very boldly said in a video, “My father was removed from office on frivolous grounds of being absent from duty, My father is the sole surviving witness to the state’s complicity in the 200 Gujarat riots, the only man who can link Narendra Modi to the 2002 riots. She said that after the burning of the Sabarmati Express in Godhra, Mr. Modi had called for an unofficial meeting where her father was present and he very clearly told the officers to look the other way and let Hindus vent their anger.
After the riots, Narendra Modi went out on a victory march, to areas where the violence had broken out only to make inflammatory speeches to stoke up further communal tensions. The Minorities Commission sought the inflammatory tapes to further investigate, but the officials said the tapes did not exist. At that time, Sanjiv Bhatt and others stepped forward and provided the Minorities Commission with the tape. The very next day, all the officers who gave the tapes were transferred out on punishment postings. Sanjiv Bhatt was charged with life imprisonment. But the complainant now wants to take back his complaint. Will Sanjiv Bhatt be finally out?
It just makes one wonder what made the complainant remove his complaint after thiry years. Is it because Sanjiv Bhatt is a Kashmiri Pandit and did popular sentiment play a role in urging Chitroda to take back his complaint? Or was it a bigger force at hand?
Every bureaucrat who helped Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah from 2001-to 2010 are in major positions in govt and some who exposed them are in jail!
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Watch Aakashi Bhatt, daughter of former IPS officer, #SanjivBhatt
She says "My father is a sole surviving witness to d state's complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots. My father is the only man who can link Narendra Modi to 2002 riots."pic.twitter.com/teh4aiqgDL— Qamar Sheikh Ahsan (@BeingQSAtweets) March 29, 2022