HC rejects Sanjiv Bhatt's bail plea in custodial death case

The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday rejected the bail application of sacked IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a custodial death case in which he has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Jamnagar court. A division bench of justices Bela Trivedi and A C Rao rejected the bail applications of Bhatt and co-convict Pravinsinh Zala.

Bhatt and Zala's appeals against conviction are pending before the same division bench. Earlier, Justice V B Mayani had recused himself from hearing on Bhatt's plea seeking that his sentence be suspended and he be granted bail.

A sessions court in Jamnagar in June had awarded life sentence to Bhatt and Zala. On October 30, 1990, Bhatt, then additional superintendent of police of Jamnagar, detained around 150 people after a riot broke out in Jamjodhpur during a bandh called to protest against BJP leader L K Advani's 'rath yatra' for the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya being stopped.

One of those arrested, Prabhudas Vaishnani, died in a hospital after his release from police custody. His brother accused Bhatt and six other police officials including Zala (then a constable) of torturing Vaishnani in custody.

Bhatt, dismissed from service in 2015, is behind bars since September 2018 after his arrest in another case where he is accused of framing a man in a drug possession case.