Protest marches in Gujarat cities as support for Sanjiv Bhatt swells

Victims of 2002 riots, as many as 10 different activist groups and NGOs came together in Ahmedabad to express their solidarity with 1988-batch IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt who was arrested on Friday by the city police.

Bhatt's supporters have termed his arrest as 'unconstitutional'. A protest programme was held near Sardarbaugh in the Lal Darwaza area of the city on Monday.

Bhatt's arrest has sparked off similar protests across India with people in cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Patna too attacking the Gujarat government's action against the IPS officer.
Bhatt is believed to be one of the key witnesses in the post-Godhra riot cases, after he filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in which he implicated chief minister Narendra Modi in the post-Godhra riots. In another affidavit filed in the Gujarat high court recently, he also came out openly against Modi in the Haren Pandya murder case.

Many activists declared Modi government's action as 'unconstitutional'. "If you don't agree to act as per Modi's wishes, you will be punished like Sanjiv Bhatt," a dalit activist, Raju Solanki, said while addressing a crowd in Ahmedabad.

People also gathered outside Bhatt's residence and shouted anti-Modi slogans.

Fr Cedric Prakash, a human rights activist, also addressed the crowd and said that the police had treated Bhatt like a hardcore criminal. His house was also raided twice as if he was a common criminal. "This is the vindictive nature of the state government and it should not be tolerated," he said.