Sanjiv Bhatt Moves Supreme Court Seeking To Defer Gujarat HC Hearing Of His Appeal Against Conviction Till Plea To Adduce Additional Evidence Is Decided

Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt has approached the Supreme Court against the Gujarat High Court starting the regular hearing of his appeal filed against the conviction in a custodial death case, without awaiting the order of another petition filed by him in the Supreme Court seeking to adduce additional evidence in the appeal.

In July 2019, the Sessions Court at Jamnagar in Gujarat had sentenced Bhatt to life imprisonment after finding him guilty for the custodial death of one Prabhudas Madhavji Vaishnani in 1990. Before the trial court, he had filed an application to produce expert evidence of one doctor to support his argument that the death of Prabhudas was not due to the alleged sit ups he was made to do forcefully by the police. The trial court had rejected the application.

In the criminal appeal filed before the Gujarat High Court, Bhatt filed an application under Section 391 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking to adduce the expert evidence. In August 2022, the High Court dismissed the application. Challenging the said order of the High Court, he filed a special leave petition before the Supreme Court, which is pending.

While so, the High Court listed Bhatt's criminal appeal for regular hearing. Although his lawyers sought for adjournment, the High Court refused. In this backdrop, Bhatt has filed the present Special Leave Petition, contending that grave hardship will be caused if the High Court proceeds to hear the criminal appeal without awaiting the outcome of the earlier SLP filed in the Supreme Court for adducing additional evidence.

In April 2011, Bhatt had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court accusing the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi of complicity in the 2002 riots. He claimed to have attended a meeting convened by the then CM, Mr. Modi, on February 27, 2002, the day of the communal riots, when instructions were allegedly given to the State Police to not take any action against the perpetrators of violence.

The Court appointed SIT however gave clean chit to Modi. In 2015, Bhatt was removed from the police service, on the ground of "unauthorised absence".

In October 2015, the Supreme Court dismissed Bhatt's plea for constituting a special investigation team (SIT) for cases filed against him by Gujarat Government.

The petition has been filed by Advocate Aljo Joseph.