By TCN Special Correspondent,
Ahmedabad: Hundreds of activists from all over the state converged outside the Sardar Baug here on Saturday demanding adequate security for senior IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and his family. The civil society is extremely concerned about Bhatt’s security as he is facing threats following his affidavit in the Supreme Court in which he had stated that Chief Minister Narendra Modi on February 27, 2002, had instructed senior police officials not to take action against Hindu mobs attacking Muslims.
The activists said that one armed guard for Bhatt and an armed sentry for his family provided at the moment by the state government “is highly inadequate in view of the fact that Sanjiv Bhatt is the only direct witness, who has come out openly, against Modi and his role and conduct in 2002 carnage.”
Shabnam Hashmi talking to media during the dharna
“The refusal to provide adequate security would not only tantamount to willful abdication of an obligatory duty cast upon the state but also equals to a blatant attempt by the agencies of the state to mislead the Supreme court of India and obstruct the judicial process,” the activists said.
Activists cited the example of former BJP minister Haren Pandya who had made similar statements before the Citizens Tribunal headed by former Supreme Court judge Krishna Iyer and was subsequently murdered under mysterious circumstances.
Rights activists demanded that the Modi government should fulfill its assurance given to the Supreme Court on May 5, 2011, pertaining to the security to Bhatt and his family. They said that Bhatt being a witness after filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court, deserved security as laid down by the SC for witnesses of Gujarat riots of 2002.
Carrying placards, they demanded minimum of five armed guards to be deployed round the clock at the residence of Bhatt, one bullet proof car for Bhatt and one additional vehicle for the use of his immediate family members with immediate effect.
Prominent among thoe who took part in the three hour dharna include Jesuit priest Father Cedric Prakash, Gujarat PUCL representative Gautam Thakar, Shabnam Hashmi from Anhad, Sheba George from Suhrawaru, Hozefa Ujjaini, Indira Hirway, Indu Kumar Jani, Manisha Trivedi, Noorjahan diwan, Raju Solanki, Prasad Chacko and columnist Prakash N Shah.