Source: indianexpress.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acting on an application moved last week by Shweta Bhatt, wife of \nformer IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, seeking an early listing of her main \npetition seeking armed security for her family from the state at its \nexpense, the Gujarat High Court ordered that the main petition be listed\n on August 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On July 12, Shweta Bhatt submitted that her main petition was heard \nlast on May 8, at which time the state government had sought time. \nThereafter the matter was listed for May 10 but due to paucity of time, \nthe matter was not heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice S H Vora directed the registry to list her main petition for \nhearing on August 19 and disposed of her application. Shweta\u2019s main \npetition states, \u201cThe threat perception against Mr Bhatt and \nparticularly against his family members has intensified and there have \noccurred instances after the arrest of Mr Bhatt that have prompted the \nwife of Mr Bhatt to approach the High Court for providing armed security\n at the cost of the State.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The petition goes on to list up to eight instances that have \u201craised concerns about security of the petitioner\u201d. These included the presence of \u201cunknown persons frequently seen around the home of the petitioner\u201d and a car accident that Shweta Bhatt and her son were involved in, which this paper had reported about on January <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shweta, who had contested the 2012 Assembly polls against then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, also states in her petition that her contesting elections had \u201cenraged many and since then the petitioner also is facing issues of her security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The petitioner has also submitted that if she and her family is not \ngranted appropriate and adequate action, \u201cthere is a serious threat \ncontinuously looming upon the present petitioner and no one should be \nallowed to be subjected to such fear and insecurity, especially when the\n husband of the petitioner has been a key witness in the investigation \nand the trial of the accused persons in the 2002 Gujarat riots.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The High Court in May had directed the state government to bring on \nrecord of the court when the state withdrew security cover for Sanjiv \nBhatt and his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sanjiv Bhatt earlier moved an application in the apex court with \nsimilar prayers seeking security cover. This was prompted, as mentioned \nin the petition, by the sudden withdrawal of security cover on July \n2018. Thereafter Sanjiv was arrested on September 5 in connection with a\n 21-year old case on allegations of having planted drugs to arrest a \nperson. Meanwhile, a district and sessions court in Jamnagar on June 20 \npronounced its judgment in a 29-year old case of custodial death, \nsentencing former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who was then the ASP in the \ndistrict, to life imprisonment.<\/p>\n