Why no action against Gujarat cops publicly flogging minority youth? Asks petition

An email petition, floated by Mujahid Nafees, convener, Minority Coordination Committee (MCC), Gujarat, addressed to Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel, has wondered why till now no action has been taken against the police personnel responsible for publicly flogging three youth belonging to the minority community.
Referring to the incident, which took place in village Undhela, Matar taluka, Kheda district, the petition, endorsed by several human rights activists, says, there is lack of action despite the fact that video clips/ images and newspaper reports of an incident that occurred on 3rd / 4th October, 2022 of public flogging by police personnel of those held for allegedly pelting stone/s at garba venue.”
The petition states, according to reports, an argument over the location of a garba event in the village spiralled into violence with Muslim residents objecting to holding the programme near the village mosque. “An FIR was registered against the alleged Muslim miscreants for the alleged violence”, it says.
A day later, according to the petition, the videos which emerged a day later, and going rounds, shows the police personnel brought the arrested persons din a police van near the event venue, where the altercation over garba was held. They were taken near an electric pole where one police personnel pulls them by their hands and another beat them mercilessly: all of this while the crowd around cheered the police brutality.

Bhupendra Patel, Mujahid Nafees

Regretting that no action has been taken/initiated till date, only an inquiry committee of Ahmedabad IG has been ordered after a legal notice sent to top Gujarat government authorities, the petition says, “This is in complete violation of all rights of those flogged by those responsible for the maintaining law and order.”
Stating that what happened in Undhela village is “open and brazen violation” not only against the protected rights under Article 21 but against the whole “constitutional spirit of a civilized society”, the petition says, it violates international law and conventions to which India is a signatory, especially for eschewing all forms of torture, the Supreme Court judgement in the DK Basu case and Article 141 of the Constitution.
Pointing out that “there is no section in any police manual or Indian penal code that allows police to indiscriminately assault citizens”, the petition demands, that the police department should file FIR against the police personnel involved in flogging, the accused police personnel should be suspended and arrested, and the victims paid compensation.

---

Click here for signatories

Comments

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members. As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.

Search This Blog