Sanjiv Bhatt case: Gujarat High Court extends stay

The Gujarat high court on Tuesday extended till November 21 the stay on framing of charges against suspended officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a custodial torture case registered in Jamkhambhliya taluka of Jamnagar. Earlier, the court had rejected Bhatt's plea challenging the decision of the state government to withdraw the revision application opposing the prosecution of Bhatt.

However, the high court granted Bhatt’s lawyer request for a stay on the order so that his client could move the Supreme Court in the case. Recently, the lawyer sought extension of the stay as the case is yet to come up for hearing in the Apex Court.

As per the case, when Bhatt was posted in Jamnagar as DySP in 1990, a person died allegedly due to police brutality during a communal flare-up in Jamkhambhliya taluka of the district. A local court initiated criminal proceedings against him and six other policemen in this regard.

The state government had later filed a petition in the high court seeking revision of the lower court’s order.