The Supreme Court reserves the ordinance on the plea of ​​Sanjiv Bhatt to suspend the punishment in 1990

The Supreme Court, on Friday (February 28), reserved the order for the application filed by the expulsive IPS officer, Sanjiv Bhatt, who wants to suspend the life punishment that was imposed on a case of custodial death since 1990.

A bank that encompasses Vikram Nath justice and Justice Sandeep Mehta Heard that the request moved to the petition of leave specially submitted by Bhatt challenging the January 2024 judgment of the High Court of Gujarat, who rejected his appeal against conviction and sentence.

The main lawyer Kapil Sibal, For Sanjiv Bhatt, he claimed that he has been in arrest for over five years. Sibal claimed that there is no evidence for Bhatt’s conviction and that the medical evidence has suggested that the victim, Pubhudas Madhavji Vaishnani, died due to pre -existing medical conditions. He claimed that there is no medical evidence of any physical torture. He stressed that death happened about twenty days after the victim’s release from the arrest. Although the victim immediately met the family doctor after his release, he did not make any complaint with the police torture, said Sibal. “If this type of trials will take place, where will the country go? All that requires is the bail,” said Sibal.

Lawyer Senior Maninder Singh, For the state of Gujarat, he rejected the petitioner’s arguments and said that the medical tests showed that the victim died due to renal failure, which was caused by the situations and forced dragging that was made by the police throughout the night. There was clear evidence that torture led to renal problems. Singh also stressed that Bhatt is serving a 20-year penalty in another case in connection with drug planting to involve a person. There are no justifiable circumstances to suspend the punishment, Singh argued, taking into account the evidence in the record and also the other criminal records of the convicted person.

The bank also said that the Supreme Court previously rejected Bhatt’s petitions to suspend the punishment while his appeal was pending to the High Court of Gujarat. Lawyer Vanshaja Shukla, For the informant (the brother of the deceased), he stressed that it was a case in which the justice was released almost thirty years after the incident and that the courts must also be careful about the rights of the victims.

The incident refers to the death of a Pubhudas Madhavji Vaishnani in November 1990, which was supposed to be the torture of freedom. At that time, Bhatt was the superintendent assistant of the Jamnagar Police, who, together with other officers, were arrested about 133 people, including Vaishnani, for revolts during a Bharate Bandh.

Vaishnani, who was kept in arrest for nine days, died ten days after his release. According to medical documents, the cause of death was renal failure.

Following his death, a thread was registered against Bhatt and several other officers regarding the accusations of freedom torture. The knowledge of the case was taken by the magistrate in 1995. However, the trial remained until 2011 due to a stay of the High Court of Gujarat. Later, the stay was vacated and started the trial.

In June 2019, a court of meetings in the state district of the state sentenced Bhatt and a police consistency (Pravinsinh Zala) to life imprisonment, after condemning them in accordance with sections 302 (murder), 323 (punishment for the voluntary challenge of the wounds) and 506) IPC.

Apart from them, police Constans Pravinsinh Jadeja, Anopsinh Jethva and Kesubha Dolubha Jadeja and the Sub -inspectors of the Shailesh Pandya and Dipakumar Bhagwandas Shah were also found guilty of custodial torture and were condemned in sections 323 and 506 (1) (1).

Causing their conviction, Zala, Bhatt, Shah and Pandya moved HC in 2019.

Rejection of their criminal appeal, a bank of Judge Ashutosh Shastri and justice Sandeep N. Bhatt noted that the reasoning given by the Jamnagar Court was correct and, therefore, there was no reason to interfere with the order of conviction.

Case: Sanjiv Kumar Rajendrabhai Bhatt v Gujarat and ANR. | SLP (CRL) no. 11736/2024