Former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Sanjiv Bhatt’s legal problems do not seem to abate. Now, the Gujarat high court has rejected his wife’s plea to stop his transfer to any other jail than Palanpur.

Sanjiv Bhatt, an IIT Mumbai graduate and an IPS officer of Gujarat, has been at the centre of a protracted legal saga marked by high-stakes allegations, official dismissal, removal from service, and multiple criminal convictions.

Now, the Gujarat high court has rejected a petition his wife. Shweta Bhatt had sought to prevent her husband from being moved from Palanpur jail. The court said Bhatt has no absolute right to demand a jail transfer.

Bhatt was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Jamnagar sessions court on June 20, 2019, in a custodial death case. He was lodged in Jamnagar jail. Later, during an NDPS trial, the Banaskantha sessions court convicted him on March 27, 2024.

During the NDPS trial, Bhatt was kept in Palanpur jail. His wife feared authorities might transfer him to another facility, prompting her petition to the High Court.

The state told the court that government rules mandate Bhatt serve his life sentence in Rajkot Central Jail. Prisoners from Jamnagar district are routinely lodged there. The state added that the petitioner has no right to demand a transfer.

The court, according to the website, noted: “…this Court is of considered view that the husband of the petitioner having no absolute right to seek jail transfer. If we accept the arguments made by learned counsel for the petitioner, then also, prisoner should not be transferred pending appeal.

“Hence, in view of the above, Rule 9 would not avail any assistance to the husband of the petitioner… The place of detention is a matter of administration’s choice of detaining authority… he is required to be detained in Rajkot Central Jail and he is lodged at Rajkot jail”.

The court said Bhatt’s temporary move to Palanpur jail was because he was an under-trial in the NDPS case. After that trial ended, he returned to Rajkot jail to serve his life sentence.

“Hence, considering the aforesaid facts…no arbitrariness or malafide appears from the State order…Convict/prisoner having no absolute right to ask for to lodge or detain him in a particular place or in a jail,” the court added.

The petition seeking to block Bhatt’s transfer was rejected. The court cited policy decisions and administrative authority.

Bhatt and constable Vajubhai Chau, against whom the case was abated after his death, were charged under sections 330 and 324 of the Indian Penal Code on the complaint by someone named Naran Jadav for causing him physical and mental torture in police custody to extract confession in a Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) and Arms Act case.

Meanwhile, reports have surfaced that Bhatt maintains a daily exercise routine which goes up to three hours. The routine includes doing yoga exercises such as sarvangasana, shirshasana and chakrasana.

Sanjiv Bhatt is a former IPS officer of the Gujarat-cadre. He has been targeted by the Modi government as he filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court of India against then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi alleging his complicity in 2002 riots.

In the affidavit, Sanjiv Bhatt said he (Bhatt) had attended a meeting, during which Modi allegedly asked top police officials to let Hindus vent their anger against the Muslims. However, the Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court of India concluded that Bhatt did not attend any such meeting, and dismissed his allegations.

In 2015, Bhatt was removed from the police service, on the grounds of “unauthorised absence”. In October 2015, the Supreme Court quashed Bhatt’s plea for constituting a special investigation team (SIT) for cases filed against him by Gujarat Government. The court lifted a stay on his trial in these cases and asked him to face prosecution.

The court observed, “Bhatt was in active touch with leaders of rival political parties, was being tutored by NGOs, was involved in politics and activism of creating pressure, even upon 3-judge bench of this court, amicus and many others”.

On June 20, 2019, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the sessions court of Jamnagar district in Gujarat in a 1990 custodial death case. On March 27, 2024, Bhatt was convicted by Palanpur sessions court in a drug peddling case.

This report first appeared on Vibes of India. It has been edited lightly.

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