Ahmedabad:
The legal battle between arrested police officer Sanjiv Bhatt and the Gujarat government has escalated. A court in Ahmedabad was to decide whether Mr Bhatt should get bail today. But the police has challenged this because another court is trying to decide whether the police should be granted Mr Bhatt's custody. So whether Mr Bhatt's application for bail can be heard or not will now be decided in court tomorrow.
Mr Bhatt shot into national prominence in April this year, when he formally accused Chief Minister Narendra Modi of complicity in the state's riots in 2002. At that time, Mr Bhatt was posted as a Deputy Commissioner to the state intelligence bureau. Mr Bhatt gave the Supreme Court an affidavit in which he said that at a meeting of senior policemen on February 27, 2002, Mr Modi asked that rioters not be interrupted. Nearly 1200 people were killed in the Gujarat riots, most of them Muslims. Mr Modi has challenged Mr Bhatt's statement and by other police officers who deny that Mr Bhatt was present at the meeting in question.
Mr Bhatt was arrested on Friday after a junior officer, KD Pant said he'd been coerced by Mr Bhatt into supporting his statement against the Chief Minister. The judge who will decide his bail suggested that if Mr Bhatt agrees to a police request for access to his bank lockers, he could be allowed to leave jail. But Mr Bhatt told the court," There can be no compromise with the Modi government. This is a battle of principles. I am ready to remain in jail for however long it takes."
Like Mr Bhatt, the opposition Congress and activists accuse Mr Modi of political vendetta. Mr Bhatt was suspended in August for skipping work, and for using an official car during that period.
The police has asked for Mr Bhatt's custody. His wife, Shweta, has objected to this, and has written to Home Minister P Chidambaram, alleging that her husband may be in danger. In her letter she said,"I request you to initiate appropriate steps to safeguard right and liberty of my husband and also keep an eye on the victimisation meted out to him. I fear that he may be embroiled in a series of false cases that have no basis to simply harass and intimidate him."
In Maharashtra today, anti-corruption crusader, Anna Hazare, said Mr Modi should not have allowed Mr Bhatt's arrest. "What Narendra Modi has done is wrong. It is not good for democracy in the country," Mr Hazare said.