Even as Congress leader Hardik Patel and several women were on Wednesday detained while they were on way to Palanpur district jail in Gujarat to meet sacked IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, Kathua rape and murder case lawyer Deepika Singh Rajawat was allowed to meet him and tie rakhi.
Rajawat was accompanied by Bhatt's wife Shweta and son Shantanu. However, Shantanu was not allowed to meet his father.
Patel and others were detained by the police citing law and order situation arising in Palanpur. Rajawat and Shweta spent about 10 to 15 minutes with Bhatt in the jail.
Rajawat told THE WEEK that she tied a rakhi to Bhatt and blessed him to keep fighting and be a warrior. “When I had heard about Bhatt's deposition before a judicial commission in 2011, I was very young. I had never imagined that I would tie rakhi to him and that too in the jail,” she said.
According to Rajawat, it was an emotional moment and they also discussed about Bhatt's case.
Sacked Gujarat cadre IPS officer Bhatt was given a lifer in connection with a custodial death case. Before he was awarded lifer in June, this year, he has been behind the bars for 11 months in an old drug “planting” case. Bhatt has challenged the conviction and the case is listed in Gujarat High Court on August 20.
Following Rajawat's campaign on social media, Bhatt received over 30,000 rakhis and letters from across the country. According to her, the gesture was a moral support for Bhatt.
“This is a bond (between her and Bhatt) that will remain forever,” Rajawat said, adding that Bhatt appeared very strong. Shweta, too, said that her husband is as strong as ever.
She said that it was unfair that the authorities did not allow women to tie rakhi and others to meet him.
Shweta said that they were also not allowed to hand over to Bhatt the rakhis that had come. “We were told that if we leave the rakhis in the jail then it will be thrown away,” she held, adding that what would have happened had Bhatt read the letters.
She said the security was so tight that they had to walk over a quarter kilometer to reach the jail.
