Former IPS Officer Sanjiv Bhatt has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Gujarat court for a 30-year-old custodial death case.
The ex-top cop had famously moved the Supreme Court seeking an investigation into the role of Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah and two others for their role in trying to subvert the process of justice in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases. He had also filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court alleging Narendra Modi’s complicity as chief minister of Gujarat in the riots.
Around 150 people were detained by Sanjiv Bhatt during a communal riot in Jamjodhpur town in 1989. One of those arrested, Prabhudas Vaishnani, died in hospital after he was released.
Twitterati expressed mixed reactions to the sentence. While some hailed the verdict, others said Bhatt had been ‘targeted’ because he dared to question the Modi government.
‘Law Takes Its Course’
Some said law has taken its course.
‘Selective Justice’
National media panellist for the Congress Shama Mohamed said while Sanjiv Bhatt got life imprisonment, Pragya Thakur was sent to Parliament despite being an alleged terrorist.
“Is justice blind or just plain biased?” she asked.
Few others echoed her thought.
‘Warning Against Dissent’
Another Twitter user described the verdict as draconian. “While the Gujarat masterminds are travelling across the world, terrorists are finding a place in the parliament, an IPS officer is being imprisoned for life,” he tweeted.
Twitter user Amandeep Sandhu said this is how the BJP warns the nation against dissent. “This fear will go far, very far,” he wrote.
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