Supreme Court denies bail to former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in 1990 custodial death case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the bail application filed by former Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who is serving a life sentence for a 1990 custodial death case, Bar and Bench reported.

The bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, however, ordered that Bhatt’s appeal against his conviction and sentence currently pending in the Supreme Court be fast-tracked.

“The hearing of appeal shall not be affected,” the court said.

The case dates back to 1990 during Bhatt’s tenure as the additional superintendent of police in Jamnagar, Gujarat.

Bhatt is alleged to have detained more than 100 persons in connection with communal riots that broke out in Jamnagar district after the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishva Hindu Parishad called for a strike on October 30, 1990.

The VHP is part of a group of Hindutva organisations led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organisation of the BJP.

One of the detainees, Prabhudas Vaishnani, died in the hospital of renal failure after he was released. Vaishnani’s family alleged that custodial torture by Bhatt and his colleagues had led to the death. It was alleged that the police had prevented the detainees from drinking water, which damaged Vaishnani’s kidneys.

The nationwide strike had been called to protest the arrest of BJP leader LK Advani, who was the...

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