IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt has moved the Supreme Court against a Gujarat High Court order of November 7, rejecting his special leave petition challenging the government's decision to withdraw a plea opposing his prosecution in a murder case lodged in Jamnagar district.
A Bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and B.S. Chauhan gave a direction that the petition be listed for hearing on the notified date on November 18, following a submission from counsel that the High Court itself had stayed the operation of its order till November 24.
The case is related to alleged torture in custody of a person and his death in 1990 at Jamjodhpur in Jamnagar district. In the magistrate's court, the government had opposed the prosecution of Mr. Bhatt, who was the then Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Jamnagar.
When the magistrate turned down the government's plea opposing his prosecution, the government filed a revision petition in 1996 before the local district court, again opposing the IPS officer's prosecution and this case had been pending in the court since then.
However, when the case came up for trial in the district court this year, the government withdrew the application. Mr. Bhatt challenged the government's decision in the High Court, which on November 7 upheld such a decision.
The government and Mr. Bhatt had been at loggerheads ever since he filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, alleging that Chief Minister Narendra Modi had a role in the 2002 communal riots.
Mr. Bhatt sought the quashing of the High Court order and an interim stay of its operation.
