Verdict describes Sanjiv Bhatt as 'effective, gutsy'

In the judgement pronounced by a Jamnagar court last week, which awarded Sanjiv Bhatt life imprisonment in a 29-year-old custodial death case, the former IPS officer has been described as "effective and gutsy who was feared by public, police department and administration."

The judgement also reveals that the deposition of Bhatt's senior officers including Director General of Police (DGP) T S Bisht, currently heading civil defence and home guard and two retired DGPs P P Pandey and H P Singh went against him. The three officers had deposed in the trial court after Bhatt's request through the court since they were connected with the case.

Bisht was immediate senior of Bhatt in 1990 as Superintendent of Police, Jamnagar district, while Pandey and Singh were part of the investigation done by CID (crime).

Pandey was then SP, CID (crime) who was supervising the investigation into the allegation of custodial death of Prabhudas Vaishnani. In his deposition, Pandey said that he didn't remember much of the details but he did tell the court that the then district collector H V Patel in his statement had said that "people of Jamjodhpur were angry with police" and through his style of functioning Bhatt "appeared to be an effective and gutsy police officer."

Bhatt, who joined the Indian Police Service in 1988, was posted as additional superintendent of police (ASP) back then and was leading the police team to control the mob following communal riots in Jamjodhpur, following the arrest of BJP leader L K Advani during his Rath Yatra. A police team had arrested 133 people in Jamjodhpur, including Vaishnani, under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), now repealed. The case was closed following the government's instruction.

Pandey told the court that "after I took over the investigation and went to Jamjodhpur for the first time, people in administration, police department and the public were fearful of telling the truth about the then ASP and accused Sanjiv Bhatt." During his cross-examination, he said that in his probe he didn't find any information saying that injuries of the 133 people were due to any other cause apart from police excess.

Ex-DGP H P Singh was too also posted as an SP CID (crime) in 1992 when he took over the probe of the case after Pandey. In his cross-examination, Singh has admitted that after examining the investigation papers, the draft charge sheet was prepared. He accepted that the papers proved that a case was made out against the accused, including Bhatt.

He said that he didn't remember if Bhatt was posted as the ASP at the relevant time. He also didn't remember if accused in TADA case were detained before 12:10 in the morning on October 30, 1990. He also said that he was not aware of any of the accused policemen had beaten up those arrested in TADA case.

DGP T S Bisht was posted as SP of Jamnagar district at the time of the incident. In his deposition, he had gone to the police station but didn't see any of the 133 arrested people at that time. He also said that Bhatt was monitoring the TADA case. The trial court has noted these depositions to arrive at the conclusion that Bhatt was associated with the TADA case and was present at the police station.

However, there are several contradictions, exaggeration in the witnesses' account but the court has not considered those points in deciding the case. There are contradictions in the witnesses' account about the timing of Bhatt's presence at the spot and location of arrested people. The court also said that it would be difficult to remember exact details of an event which happened 30 years ago.

The court has found the failure of the prosecution to produce a weapon, which caused fatal injuries, not important enough to give the defence benefit. It has relied heavily on a private doctor, Sanjay Pandya, who practices in Rajkot, in whose opinion the death of Vaishnani was kidney failure due to "sit-ups," "crawling" and "physical exertion."

On June 21, the court pronounced Bhatt, then police constable Pravinsinh Jhala guilty of killing Vaishnani and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The other policemen including Dipak Shah, Shailesh Pandya, Pravin Jadeja, Anupsinh Jethva and Kesubhai Jadeja were sentenced to two years imprisonment for custodial torture and criminal intimidation.