Appearing before a bench headed by Justice B S Chauhan, Bhatt's lawyer submitted that he wanted to withdraw the plea to approach the Gujarat high court against the trial court order, rejecting to pardon the delay on his part in filing the review petition in the case. The bench then allowed his plea.
Bhatt had approached the Supreme Court, challenging a Gujarat high court order, refusing to stay the criminal proceedings against him in the case.
The high court, while refusing to stay the criminal proceeding against Bhatt, had observed that the framing of charges against him would be subject to outcome of his criminal revision and condonation of delay applications which the Jamnagar court would be deciding upon.
According to case details, one Prabhudas Vaishnani, who was arrested during a communal flare-up in Jamkhambhalia town in Jamnagar in 1990, died in a hospital few days after he was released from police custody.
Following this, Vaishnani's brother Amrutlal filed a complaint against Bhatt and six others. The Gujarat government then took the position that Bhatt and others had acted in discharge of duty and filed a revision petition in the session court in 1996, halting the criminal proceedings. This revision petition was withdrawn by the state government in July last year, thereby exposing Bhatt and others to prosecution.
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