"What goes for the rule of law recently in our country is very distressing. The slow and surreptitious reduction in sentences to the few convicted of crimes in carnage across the country is very disturbing as are the sedition and other charges against activists”, says renowned dancer-cum-social activist Mallika Sarabhai.

Mallika was referring to the granting of bail to Babu Bajrangi, convicted in post-Godhra carnage, and denial of bail to whistle-blower former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt.

Gujarat High Court recently rejected the bail plea of Sanjiv Bhatt and directed the trial court to speed track the hearing of the 23-year-old case against him in six months. Sanjiv Bhatt is lodged in Palanpur district jail since September 5, 2018 after he was picked up from his home for “questioning”.

Mallika calls the high court order as ‘unjust’ and ‘biased’.

Voicing similar concern, human rights activist and veteran journalist Prakash Shah said, “If Babu Bajrangi can be freed and Sanjiv Bhatt remains in jail, it obviously shows the crooked ways of the rulers in Gujarat.”