Justice MR Shah refuses to recuse from hearing plea by ex-cop Sanjiv Bhatt
The Supreme Court judge Justice MR Shah has informed that he would not recuse from hearing plea filed by former Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt.
The former IPS officer Bhatt in his plea has asked permission for producing an additional evidence before the Gujarat High Court in his appeal against conviction in a custodial death case.
In his plea, Bhatt had asked for recusal of Justice Shah from hearing the case , citing that Justice Shah had been a part of the bench which heard the matters pertaining to former IPS , which arose from the first information report (FIR) on the basis of which Bhatt was convicted.
A bench of Justice MR Shah and CT Ravikumar have rejected the the request by Bhatt for recusal of Justice Shah.
The bench said that this is no ground for which the justice should recuse,while stating that the hearing on merits of the case will continue later today.
In the year 2019, a sessions court in Jamnagar, Gujarat had convicted the ex-IPS officer in connection with a 1990 custodial death case, while sentencing him to life imprisonment.
The incident roots back to the tenure of Sanjiv Bhatt as the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Jamnagar, where he had taken over 100 persons into his custody for riot incident in the area. One of the rioters ,who was in police custody for nine days, died of renal failure after being released on bai
A criminal complaint was registered against Bhatt and other officers for the custodial death, and cognisance was taken by a magistrate in 1995.
The former IPS officers was penalised with Indian Penal Code Sections of murder, causing grievous hurt, criminal Intimidation and abetment.
In 2011, Justice Shah who was then in the High Court had refused to set aside a trial court ruling that had rejected an application for deferment of framing of charges in the case.
Bhatt stated in his letter to the Supreme Court for recusal of Justice Shah on the ground that the ends of justice will not meet if the present Special Leave Petition is being heard by the same judge.
Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat, who appeared for Bhatt in January had told the Supreme Court that the issue was about apprehension of bias, to which the Bench replied saying that a reasonable nexus has to be proved.
It is said that Bhatt is a vocal critic of the Narendra Modi government who before his dismissal had filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court alleging that the Modi-led Gujarat government was complicit in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
In 2015, Sanjiv Bhatt was dismissed from the service on grounds of unauthorised absence from service.
Bhatt is also in detention in relation to a 22-year-old drug-planting case.
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