Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) along with Lok Adhikar Sangh (LAS) in Gujarat’s Junagadh have moved a Public Interest Litigation in the Gujarat High Court seeking judicial inquiry into the incident of Public flogging of the Muslim men on 16 June after a protest against possible demolition of the Islamic shrine constructed in 1964 turned violent.
The PIL prayed before the High Court to constitute a team of IPS officers of the rank of Superintendent of Police or above, not connected with Junagadh range or District Junagadh, to inquire into the entire incident.
It states that “it is the police that violates the law by taking the law into its hands and reminds us again as to “who will police the police?”
The petition also seeks an FIR and appropriate action against ‘involved and erring police personnel’ and demands necessary penal, punitive, and departmental action against them for custodial violence including public flogging, ransacking, and destruction of moveable properties after entering into the respective house of suspects/accused.
Mujahid Nafees, human rights activist representing Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) in the case told Maktoob, “The kind of brutal public flogging on Muslim men done by Junagadh Police is a worst form of human rights violation by the law and enforcement agency itself and a contempt of court for not following a due process if they were guilty of the crime they are accused of.”
He said, “This kind of police torture and violence against the citizens has been condemned by the apex court time and again, terming it as colonial, archaic, barbaric and most inhumane punishment unknown to the civilized world that destroys not only the character of a victim but tarnishes the image of a nation that runs on the Rule of Law.”
On 16 June 2023, more than 500 people gathered to protest the possible demolition of the Majewadi Gate Dargah.
According to the FIR filed by the police in the matter, at least 127 have been arrested under section 302, 304, and other sections of IPC, they are still under police custody.
As protests erupted, police deployment also increased outside the Dargah as the Junagadh municipal corporation sent a notice to the administration of the said Dargah, demanding to produce papers of property on June 14 contesting the ownership, which the Dargah administration later submitted.
Following that a group of Muslim men were subjected to public flogging outside the dargah, and videos substantiating the incident surfaced on social media sites.
The footage shows several Muslim men lined up while a masked person repeatedly attacked them. Reportedly, a man also fainted by the assault.
After the protest, the Junagarh Police arrested as many as 180 people, majorly belonging to the Muslim community.
Police also maintained that at least five police personnel, including the deputy SP, were injured in the incident. A civilian has also died amidst the chaos and stone pelting, the Wire reported on June 18.
The relatives and family members of the victims are so frightened after the incident that to date no one is ready and willing to come forward to contest the police custody, as per Nafees.
Nafees also accused the police of not providing treatment to the victims who were apprehended by the police and got brutally injured by public flogging and sent to police custody.
The petition moved by Nafees also argued that the advocates who have provided legal assistance to the juvenile accused as well as others are blatantly threatened and intimidated not to raise any complaints about custodial violence and torture.
“The advocates in Junagadh Bar are reluctant to provide legal assistance because of the counteraction on the part of Junagadh Police. This is the environment of intimidation, threat, coercion, and use and misuse of the power of law”, Nafees told Maktoob.
The acting Chief Justice A.J. Desai and Justice Biren Vaishnav stated in the order, “Two weeks is granted to the learned AGP to file an affidavit about the status of the inquiry.”
Minority Coordination Committee is a legal and public advocacy organization working for more than a decade for the protection of the constitutional and human rights of citizens belonging to minority communities in the state of Gujarat and elsewhere in the country.
Lok Adhikar Sangh was established during emergency inter-alia by a Senior Lawyer and Human Right Activist late Shri Girishbhai Patel to protect the human rights and civil liberties of citizens.
Nafees concluded, “We are hopeful that an appropriate action will be taken by law and a fair inquiry will be conducted.”
The Gujarat High Court heard the petition moved by MCC and LAS on July 17, where the government of Gujarat prayed for an extension to file their response before the Court and maintained that the investigation by the Gujarat Police is underway.
The Court granting the prayed time by the government adjourned the hearing to hear the matter on August 3.
