Gujarat HC issues notice over police’s public flogging of Muslim men

The Gujarat High Court, on Thursday, issued a notice to the state government, the Director General of Police and several policemen for the flogging of 10 Muslim men in full public view—cheered on by villagers—which was caught on camera and widely circulated on social media.

The incident occurred on October 3 in Kheda district during Navratri festival, following a communal clash.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh Shastri, after hearing the matter briefly, issued the notice to the government, returnable on December 12.

The notices were issued based on a petition jointly filed by Jahirmiya Malek, Maksudabanu Malek, Sahadmiya Malek, Sakilmiya Malek and Shahid Malek through advocate Prithu Parimal.

The petitioners sought action against the policemen for contempt of court, for violating Supreme Court order—which had listed guidelines for arrest—passed in the 1996 case of D K Basu Vs State of West Bengal.

According to the petitioners, the clash erupted over the venue of garba, which was the local temple, located next to a mosque. This was the first time when the festivity was planned at the temple instead of its usual place—the reason being a religious pledge made by village sarpanch Indrabadan Patel where he proclaimed to hold the festival at the temple this year.

They said that at 11 pm on October 3, an altercation broke out at Undhela village during a garba festivity. They claimed that the incident started after the arrival of Keshrisinh Solanki, the sitting BJP MLA from Matar assembly constituency.

The petitioners claimed that Local Crime Branch (LCB) police personnel arrived at the scene at 11.30 pm and detained several persons from the spot. One of the petitioners, Maksudabanu, claimed that she was beaten up by the police team, after being taken from her house at 2 am; she also said that she was picked up by a team that didn’t include the mandatory woman member.

Following the rioting, the LCB team detained 40 persons and brought them to the Special Operation Group police station, Kheda. The petitioners alleged they were “kept in illegal detention overnight”.

Subsequently, an FIR (first information report) was registered against the arrested for attempt to murder, unlawful assembly, along with other charges under the Indian Penal Code. The next day, the petitioners said, they and five others were brought to Undhela village Masjid Chowk at 11 am.

They were then tied to a pole in the middle of the village square and were beaten by the policemen with lathis in front of a crowd.

Arguing for the petitioners, senior counsel I H Syed told the Division Bench that the policemen not only “mercilessly beat up the petitioners” they also filmed the act and circulated it on social media. Syed said that the petitioners were brought to the village in a police van and beaten one by one in front of a crowd. The videos showed men, women and children shouting “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, and cheering for the policemen.

The petition also revealed that after they were produced before the magisterial court later on October 4, MLA Solanki, and 200 others, arrived at the court and chanted slogans.

Although DGP Ashish Bhatia said that an inquiry had been initiated, no action had been taken against anyone for the alleged atrocities.