Farmer leader's custodial 'torture': Gujarat High Court seeks report from state govt

By A Representative

The Gujarat High Court has decided to adjudicate upon a contempt application by Paalabhai Raambhai Ambalia, president of the farmers’ wing of the Gujarat Congress, following his allegation of custodial torture at the hands of Jaydeepsinh Sarvaiya, DCP Rajkot district, and police inspector Hitesh Gadhvi, Rajkot Police Commissioner’s office.
Ambalia states in his plea that he was “brutally thrashed” by Sarvaiya and Gadhvi by showering lathi blows on his buttocks, and also threatened him that if he entered Rajkot District, he would become a victim of fake encounter.
Senior High Court advocate Anand Yagnik, representing the applicant, submitted that custodial violence is a clear violation of the directions laid down by the Supreme Court in the landmark case of DK Basu vs State of West Bengal. The court allowed the applicant to directly approach the High Court seeking contempt proceedings against the accused.
Ambalia, said Yagnik, had decided to contribute his bit in the PM Cares fund not by making monetary contribution but by supplying agricultural produce that could be used for thousands of hungry persons in the country during the lockdown.
This act of the applicant, Yagnik asserted, did not go down well with the ruling dispensation, and the “accused persons took it upon themselves to teach a lesson to the applicant”, leading to “merciless lathi blows.”
The High Court has directed the State of Gujarat as respondent to place on record what action has it taken on the complaints filed by Ambalia alleging custodial torture in his complaint submitted both to the Pradyumnanagar Police Station and the office of the Commisisoner of Police, Rajkot City. The matter is now listed for September 22.

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