In Gujarat, a sessions court in Jamnagar district has framed charges of murder and custodial torture against suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and six other policemen in the 1990 custodial death case. Additional sessions judge NT Solanki charged Bhatt and his six subordinates with murder, causing harm, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach and peace, criminal intimidation and abetment.

AIR Ahmedabad Correspondent reports that with this, a criminal trial will commence against Bhatt. He adds that Sanjiv Bhatt was posted as assistant superintendent of police in Jamkhambhalia when communal violence erupted in 1990. He detained several persons and one of them Prabhudas Vaishnani succumbed due to renal failure after a few days.

A private complaint was filed against Bhatt and six other policemen for custodial torture and murder. The magisterial court took cognizance of the offence, but the state government objected to the process saying that Bhatt was only discharging his duty. But, when Bhatt implicated chief minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 post Godhara riots, the state government withdrew its protection last year objecting the prosecution of Bhatt, whichhas paved the way for framing of charges.