The Supreme Court dismissed three petitions that former Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt had submitted, asking for the production of more evidence in the trial for alleged drug planting. In addition, the applications filed by Bhatt were each assessed a fee of Rs. 1 lakh by the panel headed by Justice Vikram Nath, who noted that the former police officer had been “repeatedly approaching” the courts.
Senior Attorney Devadatt Kamat appeared on behalf of Bhatt and asked the Supreme Court to lower the costs. The Bench, though, rejected the request and told the former government officer to deposit the money with the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association instead. An earlier First Information Report filed against Bhatt in the 27-year-old drug planting case was denied by the Gujarat High Court on August 24. Bhatt’s request to have the FIR against him dropped was denied by the Justice Samir Dave single-judge bench. In addition, despite a plea from Bhatt’s attorney, the judge declined to delay the implementation of the current order or the trial proceedings for one month.
Bhatt’s senior attorney, Devadatt Kamat, stated that a single application was made to invite 19 witnesses who had been listed by the prosecution but were disregarded during the examination. “How can it be deemed vexatious or an attempt to delay the trial if the prosecution cited these witnesses as prosecution witnesses and dropped them, and I wish to examine them as witnesses?” Kamat enquired. Kamat argued that these witnesses were dropped because they were inconvenient for the prosecution. He supported his claims by citing Section 233(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Kamat contended that his plea cannot be seen as an effort to postpone the trial because it took the prosecution three and a half years to interview witnesses.
How the trial could be postponed when there was never a stay, the judge questioned orally. The case started when a Rajasthan-based attorney was detained by Basankantha Police in 1996 after drugs were found in the attorney’s hotel room in Palanpur, Rajasthan. At the time in question, Bhatt oversaw police operations in Basankantha. Later on, the Rajasthan Police asserted that the case Bhatt’s team had filed was fraudulent and that it was only done so to harass the attorney regarding a property dispute. Bhatt was detained in connection with the case in September 2018 and has remained behind bars ever since.
The Supreme Court denied the terminated IPS officer’s appeal in February of this year. The appeal contested a Gujarat High Court judgement from January 2023 that extended the trial’s deadline to March 31, 2023. The Supreme Court penalised Bhatt with a fine of Rs 10,000 for his “frivolous” argument. Bhatt is renowned for his vociferous criticism of the Narendra Modi-led administration. Prior to being fired from his job, he filed an affidavit with the Supreme Court in which he claimed that the Gujarat administration led by Modi was complicit in the 2002 riots. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs fired him from his position in 2015 due to an unapproved absence from work.
