Men In Civil Dresses Found In The Gujarat Flogging Video Reportedly Police; Condemnations Coming From Different Quarters  

As the video of four Muslim men tied at a lamppost being flogged by some men in plain clothes in Gujarat took the social media by storms, the state police chief Ashish Bhatia ordered an enquiry, reported NDTV.

According to the reports, the men found hitting the four men one by one in the video were identified as police personnel of Local crime branch unit of Kheda district.

“I have ordered an inquiry. We will take disciplinary action depending upon the gravity of the charges,” Bhatia told NDTV.

Earlier, the Indian Express reported that police officials identified two of them as police inspector A. V Parmar, sub-inspector D B Kumavat. They are yet to identify the rest. The actions will be taken only after the veracity if the video is examined.

This video came following the disruptions at a Garba event during the Navaratri celebrations in the chowk of Udhela village of Kheda district. It was alleged that a few Muslim anti-social elements pelted stones at the gathering injuring seven persons including a policeman.

Udhela village has a mixed religious composition where the Garba dance was arranged in front of a Temple that is facing a Mosque in the village chowk.

The video shows the men in the plain cloth hitting the four men one by one tied to the electric pole and asking them to seek forgiveness from the cheering crowd that was clapping and cherishing the scene. After flogging the four men were bundled to police van and were taken away to the police station.

The incident has invited condemnations from several quarters.

Condemnations by International Body

Criticising the actions of the Gujarat Police in the BJP-ruled state, Amnesty International in a tweet said that it is a great human rights violation. In reference to the principle of legality and accountability, it added, “We remind the Gujarat Police that punishment is never a legitimate objective for a law enforcement action, even if using less lethal weapons. In this case, it blatantly ignored the guiding principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, and accountability.”

In a series of tweets, it said, “The Gujarat police’s use of striking devices such as lathis [sticks] to beat Muslim men who were tied to a pole by the police themselves is a serious human rights violation and shows their utter disrespect towards rule of law.”

Taking a dig at the incumbent government, it also added that the newly elected government “has a chance to break this cycle of widespread and unchecked impunity and bring to justice those responsible for this unlawful and excessive use of force.”

Legal Notice to Chief Secretary and DGP of Gujarat

A voluntary organisation Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) has issued contempt notices to the state Chief Secretary and Director General of Police on the ground that the action violated all rights of the victims.

The convenor of MCC, Muhajid Nafees in the notice asked the Government to take “appropriate and suitable departmental, disciplinary, punitive and criminal action against the erring police officials forthwith who have openly violated all rights of the victims by way of public flogging.”

Clarifying that if no action is taken, Nafees would initiate suitable legal action both against the accused police personnel and the respondents, the notice added, “Those who were flogged belong to the minority Muslim community. Despite the atrocity at the behest of the police personnel having been widely reported, no action has been taken/initiated till date in complete violation of all rights of those flogged.”

The notice also referred to the violation of Article 21 of the victims and noted that the action was against the very constitutional spirit of any civilised society.

TMC Files Complaints in NHRC

Throwing the hat into the ring, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), annoyed at BJP for some time due to several raids and arrests of its senior leaders by CBI and ED in state-level school teacher recruitments scams, filed a complaint with National Human Rights Commission against the flogging.

The party spokesperson Saket Gokhale in his tweet said, “It is a matter of shame to see that National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) hasn't suo moto taken up the matter of Gujarat Police publicly flogging Muslim youth. But they shouldn't have the excuse of "no one complained". We All India Trinamool Congress filed a complaint with the NHRC today.”

Noting that the men were beaten only because of their religious identity, the complaint stated, “The police claimed that this was "punishment" to the Muslim men who were accused of stone pelting. The police basically decided to act as jury and executioner and unleashed inhuman brutality on a group of young men purely because they were Muslim. This is a clear case of police brutality and atrocities against religious minorities ahead of the Gujarat Assembly Elections and may also be politically motivated.”

Communal Flare Up ahead of Elections?

Alleging that the ruling party with all its available instruments are trying to invoke communal frenzy ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, Muslim leader and the Congress MLA Imran Khedawala told Al Jazeera, “There should be an investigation into the incident. There is a law in place. We demand that the police should be punished for this flogging.”

Attacking the BJP Government, the Congress leader and state MLA Jignesh Mevani asked, "What point is the @GujaratPolice trying to prove by thrashing these muslim men in public? Is this done to please their political bosses or is this done upon instructions of their masters?"

The violence during the Navaratri and Dussehra in Gujarat, the political observers note is not detached from election as the communal polarisation has always been a ploy in the Gujarat assembly polls.

The state is supposed to go for polls by end of this year.