In a major development, the Supreme Court today rejected the application of former Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who had sought suspension of his life sentence in a custodial death case dating back to 1990. Bhatt, who was expelled from service, had requested bail while his appeal against conviction was pending.

A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta firmly declined to release Bhatt on bail. However, offering some relief, the bench instructed that the hearing of his criminal appeal must be conducted swiftly. “We are not inclined to enlarge the appellant on bail. Our observations made herein above are restricted to bail only and will have no bearing on the appeals of the Appellant and co-accused. The prayers sought by the Appellant is dismissed, however, the hearing of the appeal is directed to be expedited,” pronounced Justice Mehta while delivering the order.

The case had reached this stage after the Supreme Court, on February 28, reserved its decision on Bhatt’s application. The application was part of the Special Leave Petition (SLP) Bhatt had filed to challenge the January 2024 judgment of the Gujarat High Court, which upheld his conviction and the life sentence awarded earlier.

The roots of the case go back to November 1990, when Prabhudas Madhavji Vaishnani died allegedly due to custodial torture. At that time, Sanjiv Bhatt was serving as the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Jamnagar. During a Bharat Bandh that led to rioting, Bhatt, along with other police officers, detained around 133 people, including Vaishnani. Tragically, Vaishnani, after spending nine days in custody, passed away ten days after being released on bail.

Following his death, serious allegations emerged against the police officers. An FIR was filed against Bhatt and several others, accusing them of custodial torture. Although the Magistrate took cognizance of the matter in 1995, the proceedings faced a significant delay because the Gujarat High Court had stayed the trial until 2011. It was only after the stay was lifted that the trial finally commenced.

In June 2019, the Sessions Court of Jamnagar found Sanjiv Bhatt and a constable named Pravinsinh Zala guilty. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted under Sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 506(1) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Along with them, police constables Pravinsinh Jadeja, Anopsinh Jethva, Kesubha Dolubha Jadeja, and police sub-inspectors Shailesh Pandya and Dipakkumar Bhagwandas Shah were convicted under Sections 323 and 506(1) for acts of custodial torture.

Challenging their conviction, Bhatt, Zala, Shah, and Pandya approached the Gujarat High Court in 2019. However, their hopes were dashed when a division bench comprising Justices Ashutosh Shastri and Sandeep N. Bhatt dismissed their appeals. The Court agreed with the reasoning provided by the Jamnagar Sessions Court, stating that there was no ground to interfere with the order of conviction.

Sanjiv Bhatt's petition before the Supreme Court was filed through his Advocate-on-Record (AoR), Rajesh Inamdar.

Appearing for Bhatt before the Supreme Court, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal strongly argued that Bhatt had already been in custody for over five years. Sibal contended that there was no solid evidence linking Bhatt to the custodial death. He emphasized that medical reports suggested the deceased, Prabhudas Madhavji Vaishnani, suffered from pre-existing health conditions. “There was no medical evidence of any physical torture. The death happened about twenty days after the release of the victim from custody,” Sibal pointed out. He further argued that Vaishnani had visited his family doctor immediately after his release and made no complaint of police torture at that time.

However, the State of Gujarat, represented by Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, presented a different picture. Refuting the defense arguments, Singh stated that the medical evidence clearly showed that the victim's death resulted from renal failure. According to Singh, this kidney failure was directly caused by the "forceful sit-ups and crawling" that the victim was subjected to by the police through the night. “There was clear evidence that torture led to kidney problems,” Singh asserted. He also reminded the Court that Bhatt was already serving a 20-year sentence in another criminal case involving the planting of drugs to falsely implicate an individual. Singh firmly stated that considering the strong evidence and Bhatt’s other criminal antecedents, there were no justifiable reasons to suspend his sentence.

The case has been formally listed as SANJIV KUMAR RAJENDRABHAI BHATT v. THE STATE OF GUJARAT AND ANR., SLP(Crl) No. 11736/2024.

Representing Bhatt were Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Devadatt Kamat, along with Advocates Rajesh G. Inamdar and Shashwat Anand. For the State of Gujarat, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh led the case, while Advocate Vanshaja Shukla appeared for the informant, who is the brother of the deceased.