Supreme Court Imposes Rs. 3 Lakh Costs on Former IPS Officer Sanjiv Bhatt for Repeated Petitions

Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt has been fined ₹3 lakh by the Supreme Court for continuously filing petitions related to a drug planting case against him. A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Rajesh Bindal imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh for each of the three pleas filed by Bhatt.

Justice Vikram Nath remarked during the hearing, "How many times have you been to the Supreme Court? At least a dozen times? Last time Justice Gavai imposed ₹10k costs? This time 6 figures? Are you withdrawing? Justice Gavai was kind." The fines are to be deposited with the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association.

The case revolved around Bhatt's appeals against a Gujarat High Court ruling from August 24, 2023, which rejected his application to transfer the trial court judge handling the drug planting case and stay the trial proceedings.

Bhatt raised concerns about the trial judge's fairness, alleging that the judge accommodated "disingenuous devilments" by the prosecution and jeopardized his defense's case. He also sought audio-video recordings of the trial proceedings.

Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat, representing Bhatt, argued that his request for audio-video recordings was not a crime and objected to the High Court's assertion that he was delaying the trial. However, the Court noted Bhatt's repeated petitions and imposed the fine.

The case stems from Bhatt's arrest in 2018 in connection with a drug case dating back to 1996 when he was the Superintendent of Police in Basankantha. Bhatt is known for being a vocal critic of the Narendra Modi-led government and had filed an affidavit alleging the government's complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots before his dismissal from service.

Author: Anushka Taraniya

News Write, MIT ADT University