The reopening of a 21-year-old custodial death case against Bhatt shows how Modi’s government is victimising honest police officers
Sayema Sahar
Delhi
I am talking about the so called best administered state of our country, at least such are the claims! I am talking about "Vibrant Gujarat". A state which under its capable ruler is boasting of good governance, foreign capital inflows, shining skyscrapers, road connectivity, etc.
All these do matter but are of little or no meaning when the system is designed to manipulate justice. I am talking about Chief Minister Narendra Modi who uses law to his advantage to prosecute anybody who dares to go against him.
It's a sorry state to see our capable police officers, getting victimized, cases with little or no merit being slapped against them, chargesheet, FIRs or even a term in the jail is what they get for not adhering to the rule book of their political masters.
From RB Sreekumar, Kuldeep Sharma, Rajnish Rai, Satish Verma to Rahul Sharma and Sanjiv Bhatt, all of them had to face the wrath of Chief Minister Narendra Modi for speaking the truth. Sanjiv Bhatt apparently tops the hit list of Modi, as he refuses to bend upon his stand of speaking the truth, the truth of Gujarat genocide.
Despite all the pressure tactics applied on him by the state, this upright officer refuses to budge from his stand, an officer who has the guts to call the chief minister of the state he is serving in, a common criminal for his involvement in the 2002 pogrom.
Sanjiv Bhatt is currently under suspension, has served a term in the jail on an allegedly concocted FIR filed by a constable who was assisting him in the Intelligence Bureau during the Gujarat riots of 2002.
The much talked about custodial death case against Sanjiv Bhatt dates back to the communal riots of 1990 followed by the arrest of LK Advani by Lalu Yadav in Bihar and a simultaneous attack on Babri Masjid. Riots broke out in most parts of the country and Gujarat too was burning in communal frenzy. The communal stir intensified followed by a Bharat Bandh call by the BJP and VHP.
Riots intensified in Jamnagar, Jamjhodpur, like most parts of the country. The young ASP of Jamjhodpur, Sanjiv Bhatt was sent by the State Police Control Room to control the riots and the rioters. Sanjiv Bhatt, a young dynamic officer with his small but a very determined force went ahead to control the BJP/ VHP activists who had torched a mosque and 12 Muslim houses. Curfew was enforced and 133 VHP activists were arrested, 33 of the rioters got injured in the lathicharge and were sent for medical treatment by the police.
It's hard to think that this discharge of duty that resulted in arrests and some injuries to contain a volatile situation would become the fodder for a reactive witch hunt campaign by a government trying to clean its tracks by creating a case of custodial death of one Prabhudas Vaishnani who was amongst those who were sent to judicial custody following the police actions to contain the rioters. The list of injured did not have the name of Prabhudas Vaishnani.
The following day all the arrested activists including Prabhudas Vaishnani were produced before the judicial magistrate, and subsequently sent to judicial custody.
He did not complain of any torture before the magistrate and was sent to judicial custody in perfect health with no injury external or internal as examined by the jail doctors. Prabhudas Vaishnani stayed in jail for three days and then on the fourth day he complained of severe back pain and pain in his legs, after which he was sent to the government hospital, he was treated as an out-patient and was sent back. He was released from the jail after seven days.
Post three four days of his stay at home he again complained of back pain and had problems in urination. The doctors of Jamjodhpur referred him to a nephrologist in Rajkot where he was diagnosed with irregular functioning of his kidney and was put on dialysis.
He succumbed to his ailment on the fourth or fifth day of his treatment and the body was handed over to his elder brother without any postmortem. Rhabdomyolysis was told as the cause of death.
Prabhudas's brother, while on his way back with the body of the deceased was intercepted by BJP/ VHP activists who wanted a post-mortem of the deceased and simultaneously an FIR against the police officers.
The matter was investigated by the CID which submitted a closure report saying there was nothing against Bhatt and other police officers. The post-mortem report also did not say anything against the police officers The investigating agency sought an expert opinion on Rhabdomyolysis by one Dr Trivedi, to ascertain if it was a case of Rhabdomyolysis. Custodial torture could still stand true to some extent but Dr Trivedi ruled it out saying there was no evidence of it. Thus it was proved that the death of Prabhudas Vaishanani was not because of custodial torture.
A court, however, refused to accept the closure report in the case and the government filed a revision application in the session court requesting that the charges be dropped against Bhatt and other police officials.
The CID then wrote to the state government, seeking permission to prosecute the police officials involved. The government, however, refused sanction for IPS officer Bhatt's prosecution, saying that the police was acting in discharge of their duty, so they are required to be protected against any such prosecution, and filed an application for closure of the case.
There exists a government resolution too which states, "that the police officers are required to be protected by way of filing a criminal revision application by the state". Meanwhile, there was a parallel development in the case. In 2003, when Sanjiv Bhatt was superintendent of the Sabarmati Jail, the main accused of Haren Pandya murder case, Asghar Ali, was in his custody. Asghar Ali confessed before the jail authorities that Haren Pandya was killed by Tulsi Prajapati and not by him. Sanjiv Bhatt immediately wrote to the home ministry about this confession and subsequently he was transferred.
This incident dates back to November 2003, and in the year 2004 the state government wrote for withdrawal of revision petition, filed for not prosecuting the police officers who were acting on behalf of the state and were discharging their duties.
However, in 2005, the government changed its stand again and let the petition continue. On September 27, 2011, Sanjiv Bhatt filed an affidavit in the Haren Pandya murder case. And following the affidavit, Modi's team resurrected the 21-year-old custodial death case, changing its stand once again, this time to let the officer face prosecution.
Bhatt says that all these moves are desperate attempts of a desperate government, and their desperateness is giving strength to his resolve to continue fight against the atrocities of the arrogant ruler and his cohorts.
