‘Tomorrow it could be you’: Sanjiv Bhatt’s wife warns every Indian citizen against ruthless regime

coastaldigest.com web desk
October 13, 2018

Shweta Bhatt, the wife former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhat, who has been facing the wrath of the government after he exposed the then state government’s involvement in 2002 Gujarat carnage, has written an open letter warning every Indian citizen against the brutality of the government.

In 2011, Sanjiv Bhatt had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court accusing Narendra Modi of being complicit in the 2002 Gujarat carnage. Bhatt was removed from the police service in 2015 after he refused to stop raising voice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the chief minister of Gujarat during the carnage.

On September 5 the Gujarat Police detained former police officer Sanjiv Bhatt in Ahmedabad for questioning in a 20-year-old criminal case relating to falsely framing a lawyer. He continues to remain in custody since then.

Bhatt’s wife in her letter uploaded on social media platforms has called upon every citizen of India, irrespective of his or her political or ideological inclination, to come out openly and question the regime:

Here’s the full text of Shweta Sanjiv Bhatt’s letter:

Since the past 4 months, the government has left no stone unturned in trying to subdue, victimise and harass our family.

1. In July, our security cover was removed, despite the government being fully aware of the threats on my husband’s life, as one of the main witnesses of the 2002 riots case.

2. A couple of days later, the AMC suddenly demolished parts of our house, in which we had lived for the past 23 years - an initiative based on absolutely illegal and flimsy grounds. They demolished the kitchen, the washrooms and parts of the bedrooms, while making sure to do irreparable damage to the structural integrity of the entire house.

3. On the 5th of September, the CID Crime branch entered our house ‪at 8am, on the grounds of picking up my husband for recording his “statement”. It is worth mentioning that the CID Crime Branch officers entered our bedroom while I was sleeping there, in full knowledge, shamelessly invading my privacy, despite Sanjiv having already met with them and changing to leave with them.

The events that unfolded are the following.

5th September:

Sanjiv was detained and arrested on the 5th of September 2018 in a 22-year-old case. The doorbell rang ‪at around 8 am. Led by the two officers, an entire unit of policemen barged into our house, covering it inside and out, some even trying to enter our bedroom until they were stopped by my son.

6th September:

On 6th September 2018, the CID/ (Gujarat) State Government presented Sanjiv in the Palanpur court in a 22-year-old case and asked for a remand of 14 days.

Fortunately, India’s democracy is grounded in the rule of law, and there are still judges standing by this founding but fading principle. Logically and courageously, the court refused to grant remand, observing that “there is no justifiable ground to grant the police remand at this stage”.

Unfortunately, the magistrate’s strict application of the law was labelled as an “act of insubordination” (to whom?), and her decision appealed.

7th September:

As was expected, the state challenged the Magistrate court’s order, without wasting a single day.

10th September:

The State’s appeal for Sanjiv’s remand was heard by the Gujarat High court ‪at 2:30 pm. Following the dismissal of their application for custody in the sessions court, the state frantically reiterated at length their previously cited argument, without having anything substantial to add.

The matter was partially heard and got adjourned until 2:30 pm on the 11th of September.

11th September:

The State’s appeal for remand, which had been dismissed by the sessions court, was granted by the High Court of Gujarat. The latter passed an order granting 10 days remand of Sanjiv to the state police.

18th of September:

We moved the Supreme Court challenging the remand order granted by the High Court of Gujarat; the hearing was scheduled for the 24th of September.

24th September:

The Supreme Court moved the hearing of the appeal to the 4th of October. Incidentally, by this time the remand period would already be over. Sanjiv was moved from police custody to judicial custody on the 21st.

4th October:

The Supreme Court, observing that the remand period was already over, directed the lawyers to “move the appropriate court” for the bail application.

10th October:

The bail application filed in the sessions court was heard by the judge. The state, in an attempt to further delay the process, requested for more time to prepare an affidavit challenging our bail application and was subsequently granted time ‪till the 16th of October.

It has now almost been a month since Sanjiv’s remand period elapsed, however, Sanjiv still remains in custody.

The above events, clearly show how scared the government is of Sanjiv Bhatt, and to what extent they would go to try to intimidate him and his family. We live in a country where democracy and judiciary should be celebrated, instead of being subverted and used for personal benefits and vendettas. As an Indian I feel deeply ashamed of seeing the current sorry state of affairs in the country and the way this government is punishing and hurting whistleblowers everywhere. This needs to come to an end, we need to bring this to an end.

From the 5th of September till the 12th of October, it’s been 37 days since Sanjiv was taken away from home, from his family, in a 22-year-old case. Yet today we are still struggling for bail. The next hearing is on the 16th of October, and we really hope that justice does prevail on that day.

After reading all of the above, I am sure most of you have a lot of questions in mind, regarding the functioning of the government and the way this systematic victimisation of whistleblowers and opponents is taking place. It’s time each and every one of us, irrespective of our political or ideological inclination, come out openly and question this regime, whenever we feel that someone is being wronged. These are the actions of a government left unquestioned. Is it not time that we hold the government responsible for their actions? Today it is us, tomorrow it could be you.

God Bless

#EnoughIsEnough #JusticeForSanjivBhatt

Comments

Fairman
 - 
Sunday, 14 Oct 2018

I request someone please open a page to support SANJEEV BHAT.

Bhat's Fair Su…
 - 
Saturday, 13 Oct 2018

Let us make a facebook group.

-    JUSTICE GROUP FOR SANJEEV BHAT'    

 

Social media has effectively united many people and deposed the country's top leaders, presidents.

Let all be united and fight for this innocent brother SANJEEV BHAT. He is proud of our Country.

 Regardless what is our cast, religion, let us all united, fight in support this innocent brother  against his own stateman  MODI.  

Shamless Modi, can be overthrown.  If anybody has the fear of his/her creator the  God, come forward and join hands.

Every religion commands not to bow to the injustice.  Let us teach MODI & his ciminal associates a good unforgettable lesson that TRUTH WILL NOT BE DEFEATED.

 

Jai  to Truth and Justice.

Shocked Indian
 - 
Saturday, 13 Oct 2018

They entered the bedroom when she was sleeping there... This shows what kind of people they are and what they can do. We must consider this as a wakeup call. Need to act in 2019 polls. Otherwise it will be too late. They can rape our wives. 

Niki Jobe
 - 
Saturday, 13 Oct 2018

If he was in Mumbai, they would have eliminated him during Mumbai terror attack just like they finished Hemant Karkare and other cops who had taken on saffron terrorists.

Madhusoodhan
 - 
Saturday, 13 Oct 2018

If this is the situation of a pure Brahmin like Sanjiv Bhatt, then what’s the fate of lower caste people in the country? It really scares us.

zahoor ahmed
 - 
Saturday, 13 Oct 2018

No Doubt, We Peace loving People with you always.

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News Network
April 29,2020

Kasaragod, Apr 29: Kasaragod's General Hospital on Tuesday discharged the last of its 89 COVID-19 patients, who were admitted since the outbreak of the disease last month.

The patient discharged on Tuesday is a native of Anankur in Kerala. He was under treatment for 27 days following his return from Dubai. He was given a warm send-off at 12 noon by the doctors and hospital staff.

Of the 175 positive cases in Kasaragod district, only 12 are under treatment in other hospitals in the district now. Of them, seven had come from the Gulf and the remaining five were those in contact with them.

During a press meet, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, while referring the Kasaragod General Hospital's success story, congratulated the doctors, nurses and medical staff for the achievement.

According to Health Department, in spite of treating the highest number of COVID-19 patients in the state with meagre infrastructural facilities and even without the support of a medical college in the district, there have been no deaths.

According to the district administration, Kasaragod has conducted 4,112 tests so far, out of which 3,104 tested negative and the results of 833 are awaited.

The team of doctors, nurses and other staff numbering 250 is led by Dr Rajaram K Kandiyil, Superintendent of the Kasaragod General Hospital.

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News Network
February 3,2020

Mumbai, Feb 3: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has accused the BJP-led central government of siding with Karnataka in the Supreme Court over the Belgaum border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra.

"I am committed toward a unified Maharashtra... Whatever is happening in Belgaum is shocking. I will meet the committee looking after this matter. The central government is a guardian of all states and is expected to be unbiased towards all states, but it is shocking that Centre is taking sides with Karnataka in Supreme Court for last the five years. This is really shocking," Thackeray said in an interview with Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana.

On December 7 last year, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had chaired a high-level meeting over the border dispute between the two states.

It was decided in the meeting that attempts will be made to get fast track hearing on the border issue in the Supreme Court.

Earlier on January 19, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had said that Belgaum border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra is a long-pending dispute but can be resolved if Union Home Minister wants.

"If Home Ministry can resolve Kashmir issue and abrogate Article 370 then I think this border issue can be resolved too if Amit Shah wants. The matter comes under the Home Ministry. It is a long-pending issue. He should pay attention to this too," he said while speaking to ANI in Belagavi.

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News Network
May 3,2020

New Delhi, May 3: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has crossed over one million RT-PCR tests for COVID-19 on Saturday evening marking a big landmark, ICMR officials said.

"We have tested about 10,40000 tests till Saturday evening. In a few days, we have increased our testing capacity. ICMR has been doing more than 70,000 tests in the last two consecutive days," he said.

On Saturday, ICMR released that a total of 976363 samples have been tested till date. From May 1 till evening on Saturday, 1,37,346 tests were done.

The top three states which are doing vigorous testing includes--Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. As on date, these three states have conducted more than one lakh test respectively.

However, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Delhi still need to ramp up their testing capacity.

ICMR has always emphasised that the confirmatory test for diagnosis of COVID-19 infection is RT-PCR test of the throat and/or nasal swab, which detects virus at an early stage. Recently, Dr GS Toteja, Additional Director General of ICMR had said that to contain coronavirus infection, RT-PCR tests must be continued vigorously as the principal diagnostic tests.

RT-PCR tests are now available in 310 government laboratories and 111 private set up across the country.

On Friday, the Centre informed that ICMR has ordered 21.35 lakh diagnostic kits. As on date, India has reported about 37,776 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1223 deaths.

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