It is almost one month after Sanjiv Bhatt was arrested by the Gujarat CID on September 5 in connection with a 22-year-old case of alleged planting of drugs to arrest an advocate. The Sanjiv’s advocate had approached the court with the contention that he was framed in a false case.
Read the letter of Shweta Bhat, wife of Sanjiv Bhat, posted in the facebook account of Sanjiv Bhat:
This is Shweta Sanjiv Bhatt,
30th September 2018.
It has almost been a month since Sanjiv was taken away from home.
It is somewhat hard not to notice a pattern in the chain of events that have unfolded since the end of summer. On the 16th of July, Sanjiv’s personal security was withdrawn by the State. Sanjiv did not lose his resolve. On the 30th of July, under false pretext, they demolished our home. Sanjiv continued to speak up. On the 5th of September, they falsely implicated him in a 22-year-old case.
Sanjiv was taken away from home and stripped away from his family, because he still performs his duty now with the same honesty he displayed then, when he proudly wore the Khakhi for the first time. Serving his country was not only a job, it was an honour; a way-of-being that has dictated his conduct for the past 28 years.
This is precisely the reason why he is not here to address you today. Because despite the incessant pressures and threats we received, he has not lost the determination to stand up against what he believes is wrong. Because his steady voice, that every attempt to muzzle has only amplified, echoed the concerns of many Indians who believe, like him, in the virtues of justice and democracy; and whose cries have fallen deaf to the ears of this autocratic regime.
In these strange and uncertain times, each passing day brings with itself more disturbing news of politically fuelled intolerance and hatred. India once boasted the shining state of its democracy; it is now governed by leaders openly confessing their ambition to remain in power for the next five decades. India carved in stone the protection of fundamental rights; yet today; journalists, law professors, activists are sentenced to house arrest, and 22-year-old cases are reopened to achieve personal vendetta.
When freedom of speech ceases to be considered a fundamental right and becomes a threat, when questioning the government becomes ‘anti-national’ and is rewarded by jail-time, it is about time to reflect on our civil duties. Don’t you think now is the time to come out of our protective shells, and raise our voice for India, with Sanjiv – for Sanjiv?
God Bless.
