Skip to main content

Alleged custodial torture in Vejalpur: MCC Gujarat issues contempt notice

By A Representative 
A legal contempt notice has been issued to senior Gujarat government and police officials over allegations of custodial torture and public assault in connection with an incident reported from Ahmedabad’s Vejalpur area earlier this month.
According to a press note issued by the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) Gujarat, the notice has been sent by MCC convener Mujahid Nafees to the Gujarat Chief Secretary, the Additional Chief Secretary (Home Department), the Director General of Police, and the Ahmedabad Police Commissioner. The notice seeks immediate departmental, disciplinary, penal and criminal action against police personnel allegedly involved in the incident near Sonal Cinema in Vejalpur on May 7.
The MCC stated that video clips, photographs and newspaper reports related to the incident have circulated widely in the public domain and contain allegations of custodial violence and public assault by police personnel. The notice claims that police officers tied the hands of accused Mohammad Aziz Sheikh, also referred to as Rais Sheikh in the complaint, to the bonnet of a police vehicle and assaulted him publicly.
The organisation alleged that the incident amounted to “illegal and extra-judicial punishment” in violation of constitutional protections and human rights principles. It said that public humiliation, assault or custodial violence against any accused person without due legal process constituted a serious violation of the right to life, liberty and dignity guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The MCC further alleged that despite the circulation of videos and media reports, no transparent or effective action had so far been initiated against the police personnel concerned. It described this as a failure on the part of authorities responsible for maintaining law and order.
In the notice, Nafees has demanded an independent and impartial inquiry into the incident and activation of all investigation and monitoring mechanisms under the jurisdiction of the concerned authorities. The organisation has also called for disciplinary proceedings, penal measures and other legal action against the police personnel found responsible.
The press note, dated May 22, said a copy of the legal contempt notice had been attached along with links to videos related to the incident.

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Xi Jinping’s visit to USA: Recognition that China can't be contained?

By Vijay Prashad   President Xi Jinping’s forthcoming visit to the United States must be understood as more than an encounter between two heads of state, but it must be seen as an encounter between two possible futures. In one future, the United States imposes a spiral of confrontation against China. Trade disputes harden into economic warfare, then economic warfare intensifies into technological blockades, technological blockades produce military encirclement, and finally military encirclement creates incidents, and incidents the danger of becoming an unimaginable war.
Post a Comment
»

Swaminarayan, untouchability and the 'we are not Hindu' argument

By Rajiv Shah   Following my blog on why the Eiffel Tower authorities should take all the blame for giving in to the Swaminarayan sadhus ’ bizarre demand to “invisibilise” women, including its female staff, during their visit to the internationally renowned Paris tourist centre on September 5, an interesting comment by one of the top academics drew my attention to something I vaguely knew about one of India’s most powerful and richest religious sects.
Post a Comment
»

From margins to microphones: The rise of Dalit hip-hop in India

By Tersina Maria Toppo*  A protest does not always arrive as a slogan shouted from a street corner. Sometimes, it arrives on a beat. A microphone replaces the megaphone, a music video becomes a public square, and the smartphone becomes the space where a history once pushed to the margins is narrated, debated, and shared.
2 comments
»