Custodial death case: Court rejects Bhatt's plea on dept notes

A local court today rejected suspended IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt's application seeking departmental notes pertaining to the refusal of permission by Gujarat government in 1990 to prosecute him in connection with the Jamjodhpur custodial death case.
Bhatt had sought the departmental notes under sections 91 and 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Sessions court judge M M Solanki today rejected Bhatt's plea on the ground that the documents sought by Bhatt like departmental notes signed by superior authorities cannot be availed under the said sections.
The case dates back to 1990 when Bhatt was Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Jamnagar.

He had detained around 150 persons during a communal riot in Jamjodhpur town. One of the detained persons Prabhudas Vaishnani died in a hospital after his release allegedly due to torture.
A complaint of custodial death was registered against eight policemen, including Bhatt, by Amrutlal Vaishnani, the brother of the deceased.

Bhatt and other policemen were accused of beating up Prabhudas when riots broke out in Jamjodhpur.
The accused had raised objection against the complaint under section 197 of CrPC under which the state government's permission is mandatory before booking any official under any charge.
The state government had not granted its nod for the same at that time but later gave the permission for prosecution of Bhatt and others after he filed an affidavit in Supreme Court against the role of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in 2002 riots.