October
1, 2011
PRESS
RELEASE
The
Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) strongly condemns the
vindictive action of the Gujarat government in arresting Sanjeev
Bhatt, senior IPS office in an action that is nothing short of an
attempt to intimidate an important witness in the Zakia Ahsan Jafri
and CJP criminal complaint against chief minister Narendra Modi and
61 others. This action of the Gujarat police under the direct
instructions of the state’s Home Minister—Narendra Modi amounts to
tampering with evidence and direct intimidation of a key witness. It
is also a cheap attempt to slur his character and standing.
Key
issues need to be raised here. One that trough his affidavit before
the Hon’ble Supreme Court dated April 2011 he had testified to
criminal and un-Constitutional instructions being issued by Modi at
a late night meeting of 27.2.2002 the day of the Godhra incident.
In his statements before the SC-appointed Special Investigation Team
(SIT) he also gave documentary data about Modi’s abdication of
responsibility on 28.2.2002 the day attacks on Gulberg Society and
Naroda Patiya in Ahmedabad were in full swing. Finally, and last but
not the least in an affidavit filed before the High Court recently
Shri Bhatt had even mentioned that both Modi and Amit Shah, then MOS
Home had tried to intimidate and pressurize him into not giving
facts and evidence in the possession of the State Intelligence
Bureau related to the assassination of former MOS Revenue Shri Haren
Pandya. The CBI investigation into the Pandya assassination has been
recently severely criticised by the Gujarat High Court.
Most
critically, Bhatt had challenged this FIR for which he was arrested
through Writ Petition 135/2011 in the Supreme Court. The SC had
issued notice to the Gujarat government on 29.7.2011. This hasty and
vindictive, even desperate action of the Gujarat police directly
while the matter is under consideration of the Supreme Court raises
serious issues of contempt of the highest court, due process and
most importantly intimidating a witness critical to a trial to
ensure public justice. The alleged offences for which Bhatt was
arrested are sections 183,189, 193, 195, 341 of the IPC. With our
matter now awaiting being charge sheeting before a Gujarat
Magistrate’s Court the arrest of Bhatt is also a clear attempt by
the state of Gujarat to warn us all collectively and individually of
repercussions if we struggle for justice. It is a pathetic
subversion of the Constitution and the Rule of Law
Teesta Setalvad
Secretary & Trustee
Other Trustees: IM Kadri, Alyque Padamsee, Nandan Maluste, Cyrus
Guzder, Javed Anand, Arvind Krishnaswamy, Javed Akhtar, Rahul Bose,
Cedric Prakash, Ghulam Pesh Imam
