It has been a long fight which does not seem to end for the family of Sanjiv Bhatt who has been languishing in jail for almost a year.
With a life imprisonment slapped on him, the family, especially his wife faces something that she calls a life imprisonment for the entire family.
Sanjiv Bhatt faces the wrath of the justice system for taking on the high and mighty – namely Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. An upright civil servant he dared to speakup against those who were witness to the alleged inaction and complacency of State administration during the 2002 Gujarat carnage.
For his wife Sweta Bhatt, it has been a nightmare and a cause of great concern for several decades. In jail since September 5, 2018 for no fault of his, the custodial death case for which he got a lifer dates back to 1990 when he was Additional Superintendent of Police.
All alone in her fight for justice, Shweta has plans to fight till she gets justice. Sanjiv had a run – in with the top guns when he deposed before several commissions and even the apex court about the silent consent of then Gujarat government when people were exterminated en masse post Godhra.
Sanjiv faced vendetta from politicians because he exposed the involvement of political leaders in brutal murders.
Questions are now being raised on the incarceration of Sanjiv Bhatt in a 23-year-old case.
Sweta grabbed limelight when she contested against Narendra Modi in 2012 Assembly elections from Maninagar.
Sanjiv filed an affidavit in 2011 implicating Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and many other high government functionaries.
Bhatt started his journey in 1990 with his first stint at port town of Jamnagar as Assistant Superintendent of Police.
On October 30, riots erupted in Jamjodhpur, following a bandh call to protest arrest of veteran BJP leader L K Advani during his Somnath-to-Ayodhya Rath Yatra.
Sanjiv was ordered by Jamnagar district superintendent of police TS Bisht, his superior, to rush to Jamjodhpur to control the situation. He reached Jamjodhpur around 1 pm on October 30. 133 rioters were rounded up by the police.
Booked under TADA by the Jamjodhpur police they were sent to judicial custody. Two brothers, Prabhudas and Ramesh Vaishani, were among arrested.
All 133 were released from jail on bail after eight days, but four days later Prabhudas Vaishani complaining of back pain was taken for treatment and then he died in a Rajkot hospital.
Cause of death was ascertained as ‘acute renal failure’.
Amrutlal Madjavji Vaishnani called for a post-mortem .Treated as a FIR Jamjodhpur was witness to investigations.
Since then the case has been a complex web of twists and turns.
It went to the state CID (Crime) for investigation. 2,500 pages of evidence later, the Crime Branch declared that there was no evidence found against Bhatt and the five policemen.
The report highlighted the 133 arrested had not complained of any discomfort. There were no external or internal injuries either.
Nephrologist Padmashri Dr HL Trivedi, the founder director of the well-known Kidney Disease and Research Institute of Ahmedabad had personally studied the case.
Sanjiv Bhatt did not have the custody of the person.
The prosecution filed a closure report in the court in 1995.
Things turned ugly in 2011 following his deposition.
He was suspended for abstaining from duty and then the Nanavati Commission summoned him – and finally dismissed him from Indian Police Service after BJP came to power in 2014. Sanjiv has been lodged in Palanpur Jail all this while.
A close look at an order spanning 430 pages and written in Gujarati gives no reason for disregarding the closure report filed in 1995.
In what might raise alarm bells, a Times of India report shows Gujarat has not punished other policemen accused of similar crimes.
NCRB data shows as many as 180 custodial deaths took place in Gujarat between 2001 and 2016. However, no police personnel was punished for any of these deaths in this time.
Only 26 policemen have been convicted for 1,557 custodial deaths, most from Uttar Pradesh.
A string of police officers have been facing the music for their ability to take on the Gujarat government say some reports. Namely Rahul Sharma, Rajnish Rai, R.B. Sreekumar, Satish Verma and Kuldip Sharma.
As justice eludes the Bhatt family, it is that element of hope that keeps many like Shweta and her relatives going on, hoping Sanjiv will one day walk out a free man.
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