Vindictive Actions of the Gujarat Government: CJP Press Release

CJP Press Release on DIG Sanjiv Bhatt's Arrest 
October 3, 2011  

Teesta Setalvad
The illegal and improper arrest of DIG Sanjiv Bhatt IPS (Principal Police Training College when he was suspended) is a brazen attempt by the Gujarat government to violate the law, intimidate witnesses and influence the course of public justice. Shri Bhatt is a crucial witness in several cases where senior functionaries of the Gujarat government are implicated for conspiring to mass crimes, destroy evidence and subvert the course of justice. The notice issued to the Gujarat government by the Sessions Court Ahmedabad on Monday Morning (October 3, 2011) and the refusal by the lower Court in Ahmedabad to grant 14 days remand for custodial interrogation on Saturday (October 1, 2011) is a breakthrough in ensuring his personal liberty and freedom. 

The illegal arrest of Shri Bhatt and attempts to trap him inside jail by slapping sections of the IPC not originally contained in the FIR are nothing short of a misuse of state power to crush the voice of a police officer who has well-documented evidence against the culpability of key state actors. Shri Bhatt has been cited by Smt Zakia Ahsan Jafri and Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) in their original complaint dated 8.6.2006 to the DGP Gujarat against Narendra Modi and 61 others as have eleven other officers. Shri Bhatt was examined by the Supreme Court (SC) appointed SIT in November 2009 after the SC ordered that Smt Zakia Jafri and CJP’s complaint be investigated by the SIT appointed by it a year earlier. In the course of his statements before SIT, former minister of State for Home (MOS) Amit Shah had tried to intimidate him into concealing the facts from the investigation. He had revealed crucial evidence about the illegal and unconstitutional instructions of the chief minister at a meeting on 27.2.2002 where he had allegedly told the police and top administrators not to save the lives of innocent members of the minority community from deliberately incited mobs.


CJP appeals to all those committed to the rule of law and justice, individuals and organizations to protest this grossly malafide action of the Gujarat government.

While condemning unequivocally the arrest that took place on the afternoon of September 30, 2011, we would like to add that this action is nothing short of an attempt to intimidate an important witness in the Zakia Ahsan Jafri and CJP criminal complaint against chief minister Narendra Modi and 61 others. This action of the Gujarat police under the direct instructions of the state’s Home Minister—Narendra Modi amounts to tampering with evidence and direct intimidation of a key witness. It is also a cheap attempt to slur his character and standing. The authoritarian manner in which Modi used the police under him to search the homes of Shri Bhatt, his elderly mother, his brothers-in-laws is a clearcut bid to humiliate a man who stood up to the system. The efforts by the Gujarat government and their spokespersons to question the character of Shri Bhatt and is conduct during his career is also a similar effort; to divert from the real reason behind his being targeted, because he is a key public witness. 

Key issues need to be raised here. One that trough his affidavit before the Hon’ble Supreme Court dated April 2011 he had testified to criminal and un-Constitutional instructions being issued by Modi at a late night meeting of 27.2.2002 the day of the Godhra incident.  In his statements before the SC-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) he also gave documentary data about Modi’s abdication of responsibility on 28.2.2002 the day attacks on Gulberg Society and Naroda Patiya in Ahmedabad were in full swing. Finally, and last but not the least in an affidavit filed before the High Court recently Shri Bhatt had even mentioned that both Modi and Amit Shah, then MOS Home had tried to intimidate and pressurize him into not giving facts and evidence in the possession of the State Intelligence Bureau related to the assassination of former MOS Revenue Shri Haren Pandya. The CBI investigation into the Pandya assassination has been recently severely criticised by the Gujarat High Court. Both the affidavit sent to Amicus Curaie, senior counsel Shri Raju Ramachandran (April 2011) and the affidavit filed in the Gujarat HC (September 2011) can be accessed at www.cjponline.org. 

Most critically, Bhatt had challenged this FIR for which he was arrested through Writ Petition 135/2011 in the Supreme Court. The SC had issued notice to the Gujarat government on 29.7.2011. This hasty and vindictive, even desperate action of the Gujarat police directly while the matter is under consideration of the Supreme Court raises serious issues of contempt of the highest court, due process and most importantly intimidating a witness critical to a trial to ensure public justice. The alleged offences for which Bhatt was arrested are sections 183,189, 193, 195, 341 of the IPC.  With our matter now awaiting being charge sheeting before a Gujarat Magistrate’s Court the arrest of Bhatt is also a clear attempt by the state of Gujarat to warn us all collectively and individually of repercussions if we struggle for justice. It is a pathetic subversion of the Constitution and the Rule of Law.

Teesta Setalvad
Secretary & Trustee

Other Trustees: IM Kadri, Alyque Padamsee, Nandan Maluste, Cyrus Guzder, Javed Anand, Arvind Krishnaswamy, Javed Akhtar, Rahul Bose, Cedric Prakash, Ghulam Pesh Imam












Gujarat Top Cop Sanjiv Bhatt's Arrest: Wife seeks HM's help 
3 Oct 2011

The wife of arrested IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt has written a letter to the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram stating that he apprehends danger to his life from a "vindictive administration". "Sanjiv has strong apprehension of being physically ill-treated and danger to his life. We are in potential danger from a vindictive administration," Bhatt's wife Shweta said in the letter to Chidambaram. 

"My husband has been victimised and arrested merely because a few politicians apprehended serious action against them because of the evidence Sanjiv is likely to give in the pending criminal cases," Shweta further said in the letter. "I want the central government to ensure safety of my husband and his dignity should also be restored," She told reporters after writing the letter. 

“I request you to initiate appropriate steps to safeguard right and liberty of my husband and also keep an eye on the victimisation meted out to him. I fear that he may be embroiled in a series of false cases that have no basis to simply harass and intimidate him," she said in the letter. "All that my husband has done (that has upset the state administration) is that he has done his duty as he is an officer of Indian Police Service" she said.




Sanjeev Bhatt’s arrest contempt of court: Welfare Party

New Delhi: The Welfare Party of India has strongly condemned the arrest of suspended IPS officer, Sanjeev Bhatt by Gujarat Police on Friday in Ahmedabad on frivolous charges. The party demanded Bhatt's unconditional and immediate release.

Dr. S.Q.R Ilyas, General Secretary of Welfare Party, accused the Modi administration of taking vindictive action and silencing all possible dissenting voices against him. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is taking revenge from the IPS officer for revealing his proximity in the 2002 communal riots with strong evidence before the apex court at heavy risk, he said.

He said that the fear for Sanjeev Bhatt’s life as expressed by his family members should not be taken lightly. “We demand the Central Government to intervene and ensure that the life of the officer is not at risk” Dr Ilyas demanded.

“Sanjeev Bhatt had been a key insider and witness to most of the developments during the 2002 communal pogrom and has given sleepless nights to Modi with his revelations that he made due to the call of his conscientious mind,” he further said.

Claiming the police action against Bhatt as subversion of the Constitution and the rule of the law, Dr. Ilyas said that the hasty and vindictive action of Gujarat police raises serious issues of contempt of the highest court as the matter is still under consideration of the Supreme Court.

Source: http://twocircles.net/2011oct03/sanjeev_bhatt%E2%80%99s_arrest_contempt_court_welfare_party.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Twocirclesnet-IndianMuslim+%28TwoCircles.net+-+Indian+Muslim+News%29




Related news links:

1. IAMC decries Gujarat government’s misguided witch-hunt in arresting whistleblower IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt
http://iamc.com/press-release/iamc-decries-gujarat-governments-misguided-witch-hunt-in-arresting-whistleblower-ips-officer-sanjiv-bhatt/

2. Sanjiv Bhatt gives CBI 600 pages of documents
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2397554.ece?css=print

3. Sanjiv Bhatt moves High Court challenging govt decision
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2417518.ece

4. Don't feel relieved, Bhatt tells Modi
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2453801.ece

5. I was pressured to withdraw my report on Haren Pandya's murder'
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2491315.ece


7. NDTV: Tehelka sting exposes Modi, Gujarat government nexus with 2002 killers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z114wnwXtQ

8. Citizens group condemns arrest of Sanjiv Bhatt
http://zeenews.india.com/news/maharashtra/citizens-group-condemns-arrest-of-sanjiv-bhatt_734855.html

9. Save Sanjiv Bhatt from vindictive Narendra Modi: Shweta to Chidambaram
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/save-sanjiv-bhatt-from-vindictive-narendra-modi-shweta-to-chidambaram/articleshow/10224905.cms
Posted by Iqbal Soofi

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