Ahmedabad:
The Home Ministry has asked the Gujarat government to ensure that security is provided to arrested police officer Sanjiv Bhatt and his family. Mr Bhatt was arrested on Friday. His wife, Shweta, had written to Home Minister P Chidambaram, alleging that her husband is not safe while in prison. (
Read: Sanjiv Bhatt's wife writes to Chidambaram)
Mr Bhatt is currently struggling to get bail, even as the Gujarat Police has asked a court for his custody. So far, Mr Bhatt has been in judicial custody, which means that he cannot be interrogated by police officers.
A court in Ahmedabad will decide whether he is eligible for bail tomorrow. Today, during court proceedings, the judge suggested that if Mr Bhatt agrees to a police request for access to his bank lockers, it could be easier for him to get bail. But Mr Bhatt told the court, "There can be no compromise with the Modi govt. This is a battle of principles. I am ready to remain in jail for however long it takes."
(Read)The police want to search Mr Bhatt's lockers for documents that could help their case. Mr Bhatt has been arrested on charges of coercing a junior officer, KD Pant, to support Mr Bhatt's testimony against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. In April, Mr Bhatt shot into national prominence when he filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court accusing Mr Modi of complicity in the 2002 riots in his state, in which 1200 people were killed, most of them Muslims. Mr Bhatt said that at a meeting of senior policemen on February 27, 2002, Mr Modi asked that rioters not be interrupted.
Mr Bhatt's statement has been challenged by Mr Modi and by other policemen who deny that Mr Bhatt was present at the meeting in question.
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.
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.