Gujarat Police didn't let me appeal arrest: Sanjiv Bhatt

The Supreme Court on Monday took serious exception to an allegation levelled by arrested former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt that the Gujarat Police did not permit him to file a petition in the apex court challenging his arrest in a 22-year-old narcotics case.

With Bhatt's wife forced to approach the Court in his place, the bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha said it was a "serious matter" and sought an explanation from the Gujarat government by October 4.

Shweta Bhatt told the SC that her husband is currently in the custody of the Gujarat Police since September 5. On September 12-13, on the instruction of his lawyers, she went to her husband to obtain his signature on the vakalatnama and other papers intended for filing of a case in the SC, challenging his arrest and seeking the quashing of the FIR lodged against him in 1996. Shweta complained that her husband was not allowed by the police to execute the vakalatnama and other documents required to be filed in Court.

Advocates IH Syed and Divyesh Pratap Singh told the bench that the arrested officer had every right to approach the SC and the police cannot take away his right. The bench observed, "If a person is not being allowed to come to Court and his wife is compelled to come in his stead, it is a very serious matter. Normally, in a criminal matter, the person aggrieved is supposed to come to Court. But here the wife has to file an appeal."

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for the state government, dismissed the allegation as false. But the bench told the state government, "This is a very serious allegation if a citizen is saying that her husband is not allowed to come to Court. We would like to know from Gujarat what is going on."

The lawyers supported the allegation with an affidavit filed by the wife. The bench said it was influenced by the merits of the case or the person involved. "According to us, the issue raised by the petitioner raises a grave and substantial question as it pertains to allegation against the state in preventing a citizen from approaching the Court," the judges said.

The petition pointed out that his arrest is arbitrary as the entire complaint was investigated earlier by the Rajasthan Police. In January 1998, the Rajasthan Police filed a charge sheet against 20 accused, including Bhatt. The crux of the allegation is that one Sumer Singh Rajpurohit complained to the police about how he was framed in a drug peddling case by the police in order to pressure him to vacate a shop in Rajasthan. After he vacated the shop, a closure report was filed in the case against him. Based on his complaint, a case was registered against Bhatt and other police officers.