‘Devoid of any merit’: Gujarat HC dismisses pleas of Sanjiv Bhatt’s wife for ‘first class prisoner’ status for him, jail transfer

Stating that the petition seeking ‘first class’ classification was “devoid of any merit”, the court also dismissed the petition seeking his jail transfer.

The former IPS officer, who is serving life imprisonment in a 1990 custodial death case in Jamnagar, is lodged in Rajkot Central Jail.

A verbal order of Justice H D Suthar on October 16 cited precedents of the Supreme Court to state that “there is no intelligible differentia to classifying prisoners on the basis of ‘habit’, ‘custom’, ‘superior mode of living’ and ‘natural tendency to escape’. Instead, classifications such as labour segregation should be based on parameters such as ‘conferment of entitlements such as remissions’.”

The court order said that the medical report of December 2024, annexed in the petition by Bhatt’s wife, had opined, “mild osteoarthritic changes likely and advised ‘avoid squatting and sitting cross-legged’”, and added that there is “no specific observation that husband of the petitioner is suffering from osteoarthritis.”

The court order noted that the petition sought relief to provide facilities under Clause 1074 of the Bombay Jail Manual which provides a hospital bed, table, chair, bookshelf, wash basin stand, mosquito net and a reading lamp, among other items recommended for ‘class one prisoners’ and the petition also sought to consider the “social status and the family background of (Bhatt)…” apart from medical conditions cited in the petition.

The court considered the affidavits of jail authorities describing the “rigorous three-hour exercise regimen” followed by Bhatt, including “exercises of the back, core muscles, abdominis muscles, knees, crunches, leg raise, planks and brisk walks… yoga, shirshasana, sarvangasana and chakrasana” at the age of 61 years with “precision… unlike not only his fellow aged convicts but any individual of his age rather put a youth to shame”.

The court order also noted that the convict (Bhatt) had made no complaint against the jail authorities regarding denial of medical facility or physiotherapy or regular visit of doctor.

The court also considered the submission of the state that “many IPS and IAS Officers have undergone sentences even in the Gujarat State and no such classification is sought for and no practice or policy does exist in the State”. Bhatt’s wife has previously been imposed a cost of Rs 3 lakh by the Supreme Court for “levelling such allegations against the authority,” the jail authorities said in the submission.

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