Ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt acquitted in 1997 custodial torture case
What's the story
A Gujarat court has acquitted former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a 1997 custodial torture case. The ruling was pronounced by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Mukesh Pandya, who said the prosecution could not "prove the case beyond reasonable doubt." The charges against the controversial official were based on his time as superintendent of police in Porbandar and involved causing grievous harm to extract a confession.
Case background
Details of the 1997 custodial torture case
The case stemmed from allegations of Naran Jadav, who accused him and his son of being given electric shocks in police custody under Bhatt's supervision. Jadav alleged the torture was to extract a confession in a Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) and Arms Act case. He received electric shocks on various body parts, including his privates. However, the court observed that the required sanction to prosecute Bhatt, who was a public servant then, wasn't obtained.
Legal history
Bhatt's previous convictions and ongoing cases
The FIR against Bhatt and constable Vajubhai Chau, against whom the case was abated after his death, was registered on April 15, 2013, on a court order on Jadav's July 6, 1997 complaint. Bhatt is already serving life imprisonment in a 1990 custodial death case in Jamnagar. He was sentenced to 20 years in March 2024 for planting drugs to frame a lawyer in 1996. He is also accused of fabricating evidence in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases.
Career fallout
Bhatt's dismissal from service and accusations against Modi
Bhatt was suspended from service in 2011 and dismissed by the Ministry of Home Affairs in August 2015 for "unauthorized absence." He had earlier accused then-Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots, allegations that were later dismissed by a special investigation team. He is also accused of alleged fabrication of evidence in connection with the Gujarat riots cases, along with activist Teesta Setalvad and former Gujarat director general of police R B Sreekumar.