Citing safety, ex-IPS Sanjiv Bhatt wants to stay at Palanpur jail, wife moves Gujarat HC

The court had said that Bhatt would serve two consecutive sentences and his time spent in Palanpur jail would count as that of an undertrial prisoner. Further, it had directed that Bhatt would be lodged at a central jail. According to prison laws, given his two convictions, Sanjiv is required to be housed at one of the four central jails in the state.

In her petition before the HC, Shweta has submitted that as an IPS officer, Sanjiv had arrested dangerous criminals and terrorists who might be lodged at the central jails, thus posing a threat to his security.

Represented by advocate Kruti Shah, Shweta has submitted before Justice H D Suthar that Sanjiv was lodged at the Palanpur jail via a judicial order by the Jamnagar court on grounds of safety after the court convicted him in the custodial torture case in June 2019.

Shah has said the court order had also directed that Sanjiv be lodged at Palanpur jail in connection with the Jamnagar case, thus effectively implying that the time spent at the Palanpur jail would be included in his life imprisonment sentence.

However, public prosecutor and additional advocate general Mitesh Amin on Wednesday submitted that Sanjiv was lodged at Palanpur jail as an undertrial prisoner because he was facing a trial in the NDPS case. The arrangement to lodge him at Palanpur jail was made for convenience, as Sanjiv’s presence was required during the trial, he added.

Shweta’s petition has been moved under articles 14 (right to equality), 19 (right to freedom), 21 (right to life and liberty) and 226 of the Constitution as well as Section 482 (powers of high court to prevent abuse of court processes and ensure justice) of the Criminal Procedure Code.