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The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of former Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who is serving a life sentence in connection with a 1990 custodial death case. The top court, however, agreed to expedite the hearing of Bhatt’s appeal challenging his conviction and sentence.
A bench of the apex court stated it was “not inclined to enlarge the appellant on bail,” emphasizing that its observations were confined solely to the bail proceedings and would not impact the merits of the pending appeals.
Bhatt, who served as the Additional Superintendent of Police in Jamnagar at the time of the incident, was convicted in 2019 for the custodial assault and subsequent death of Prabhudas Vaishnani. Vaishnani was among more than 130 individuals detained during communal unrest in Jamnagar following LK Advani’s Rath Yatra in October 1990. He died 18 days after being released from police custody.
The former officer’s counsel argued in court that there was no medical evidence conclusively linking Vaishnani’s death to the alleged police assault. Bhatt had sought suspension of his sentence and release on bail during the pendency of his appeal.
In 2024, the Gujarat High Court upheld the trial court’s 2019 decision, which convicted Bhatt and two other policemen, sentencing them to life imprisonment.
With the Supreme Court now agreeing to fast-track the appeal process, the case is expected to return to the spotlight, reigniting debates over custodial violence and accountability in the Indian police system.
