Sreya Kanugula
The Supreme Court adjourned the sitting of the case of the filed petition of the former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Sanjiv Bhatt on the suspension of his sentence with regards to a 1990 custodial death case upon the request of his counsel, Sr. Adv. Kapil Sibal.
The bench consisting of Justices Ashok Bhushan, MR Shah, and R Subhash Reddy gave the adjournment for a period of 6 weeks after Mr. Sibal gave the suggestion that it would be better for the court to give some consideration to the pending review filed against the order given in June 2019.
The same order that had dismissed the officer’s request for re-examination of the additional witnesses listed in the trial. Mr. Sibal also made the submission that this case was a “mistrial” and “travesty of justice.”
He stated that this was a complete case of a mistrial to the bench. “I am saying that this is a case of complete mistrial because my witnesses have not been called. How 23 witnesses have been examined?. I am not on merits at all. I am telling you the procedure adopted. It is binding on every court“, Mr. Sibal said. “Out of 300 witnesses, they called only 37,” the senior advocate further added.
The bench was informed by him that the Supreme Court had dismissed Mr. Bhatt’s petition on the re-examination of the trial’s additional witnesses in the month of June 2019 and a review against that order remained pending.
“My request is to please postpone this matter. First, hear the review first. Please hear it in open court,” the advocate asked the court.
The case submitted by Mr. Sibal was concerning a custodial death of an accused during the 1990 communal riots. The man died a couple of days after his release.
“Five years passed pursuant to the investigation and then a summary report was filed in 1995.
I had nothing to do with it then. The Magistrate dismissed it and then the State filed an Appeal. I had no role to play in this. From 1996 to 2011, I was not involved.”
Then suddenly State decided to withdraw the Application and I opposed it. The Court passed an order saying that there were some political ramifications. There was no stay, no delay. Then the State submitted 300 witnesses. From 1990 to now, I have not got a stay from any court, I had no role to play in any of this.”
Then at the last moment, the State chose to not show some vital witnesses. I filed an Application,” The submission made to the court by the petitioner through Mr. Sibal, stated.
The advocate made the argument that Mr. Bhatt wasn’t responsible for the trial’s delay and the proceedings had been stayed due to instances of accusations against other officers.
Mr. Bhatt was given a sentence of life imprisonment by a Jamnagar Sessions Court in the month of June 2019 after being held responsible for his supposed association in the death of Mr. Prabhudas Vaishnani, a Jamjodhpur resident who’d died after being released from custody in November in the year of 1990.
The ex-IPS officer who had registered an affidavit with the Supreme Court accusing the then Gujarat CM, Narendra Modi of being complicit in the incitement of the riots of 2002, currently remains lodged at the Palanpur jail.
The instant Special Leave Petition (SLP) registered at the SC challenged the High of Gujarat’s refusal to suspend Mr. Bhatt’s sentence.
In the month of April 2011, he had filed the affidavit against Mr. Modi with the SC on the claim that he had to att a meeting held by the ex-CM on the 27th of February in 2002, the communal riots day, where specific instructions were given to the Gujarat State Police to not act against the violent perpetrators of the crime.
However, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the same court had given a clean chit to Mr. Modi.
In the year 2015, the former officer was removed from service upon the grounds of “unauthorised absence” and the SC had dismissed his plea for comprising a SIT team to look into the cases registered against him by the government of Gujarat as well.