The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday, while hearing appeals filed by former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and six others, convicted by a Jamnagar court in a 1990 custodial torture case, repeatedly sought adjournment of the accused and their advocates. made adverse remarks against the conduct of
The observations of the HC bench particularly came in the light of the Supreme Court order dated August 20, 2020, in which one of the accused-appellant Praveen Singh Zala had sought suspension of his life sentence.
The SC, while dismissing Zala’s plea, had said in its order, “…we request the High Court to dispose of the pending criminal appeal at the earliest, considering the fact that the offense under consideration is dated 30.0.1990″. was done, preferably by the end of July, 2021.”
On Wednesday, a bench of Justices Vipul Pancholi and Sandeep Bhatt said that “it appears that the appellants are not interested in proceeding with the criminal appeals filed by them” and said that with the appeals pending since 2019, and the SC’s In the light of the direction, “It is our (Gujarat HC’s) duty to take up all these matters for final disposal.” The bench has now fixed the appeals for hearing on July 18.
In June 2019, a sessions court in Jamnagar sentenced Sanjiv Bhatt and Zala to life imprisonment, convicted them of murder, and also convicted five other police officers of custodial torture under other IPC charges.
The alleged case dates back to 1990 when Bhatt was posted as additional superintendent of police in Jamnagar. He had detained around 133 people under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) during a communal riot in Jamjodhpur city. By then the riot had erupted after the announcement of Bharat Bandh. BJP President LK Advani on the last day of Rathi Travel30 October 1990.
On November 18, 1990, Prabhudas Vaishnani, one of the persons detained under the TADA Act, died in a hospital. The deceased’s brother Amrutlal Vaishnani had filed a custodial death complaint against seven policemen, including Bhatt.
In July 2019, five appeal petitions were filed by the state government, including an appeal petition, seeking enhancement of the sentence of five police personnel who were sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.
In addition to the state’s appeal, an appeal petition was filed by Bhatt, one by Zala, and in the remaining two appeals five police personnel sentenced to lesser sentences.
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On Wednesday, the Gujarat HC Bench recorded in its order that Zala’s lawyer Kuntal Joshi had filed a note in the court’s registry on record for his appeal stating that he has “decided to retire from the case”. and informed them about it. Customer on 4th July 2022.
Recording that the note of the advocate declaring his retirement from the case was filed “without assigning any reason”, the court said, “It is clear from the note that the appellant is not interested in pursuing the matter before this court.” Doesn’t keep…”
The court also noted that barring Bhatt’s counsel Saurin Shah, none of the advocates for the accused-appellants appeared before the court, and when the court began to pass its order, counsel for two other appeals appeared. “From the conduct of the appellants, it appears that they are not interested in proceeding with the criminal appeals which have been filed by them,” the court said.
Meanwhile, advocate Saurin Shah, representing Bhatt, submitted that a review application relating to the hearing of the 1990 Jamjodhpur case was pending before the Supreme Court since 2019 and has not been taken up till date, and in this view, he urged , he is “not interested in proceeding with the present appeal” at this stage.
The court recorded in its order that, “It is pertinent to note that the SC has specifically directed… therefore we are inclined to proceed with the present appeal…”