Gujarat rights panel says biased cops beat Muslim men,fudged facts

In its report,the SHRC said: It is evident that the police had planned well in advance on the demands of Hindu organizations to publicly beat up the Muslim youths this is extremely regrettable and shameful. The police should not have violated human rights or incited communal passions to appease Hindu organizations,instead of containing communal passions… this requires further inquiry and therefore a report is sought.

On January 9,four Muslim men allegedly attacked one Govind Parmar,owner of a hardware store,and looted his shop in Savarkundlas main bazaar. Late that night,all four men were arrested.

Some traders and Hindu leaders,allegedly from the VHP,then pressured the police to beat the men in public. On January 10,a group of policemen including Police Inspector (PI) M N Trivedi and Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) BP Sonara,brutally thrashed the accused on the street outside the towns Nariya police chowki.

The police also beat up several other Muslims unrelated to the incident,including a pregnant woman in her home. Among the victims of the police beating was journalist Iqbal Gori,who was present at the spot along with other local journalists,and taking pictures of the beating.

The police filed a case of rioting against Gori and six others. The four original accused were sent to Amreli jail.

Prejudiced cops thrashed Muslims to please Hindu bodies: Gujarat rights Commission

On March 11,PASA was invoked against Gori,who was arrested on March 15 and sent to Rajpipla jail.

The SHRC which was formed in 2006 and is currently headed by a retired chief justice of Gujarat High Court,Justice Daya Saran Sinha got involved after Gori took up the matter with it on March 18. Gori had earlier written to senior Gujarat police officers and the Chief Justice of India after the police refused to register his complaint against seven policemen.

On April 6,the Commission submitted its report to the PASA advisory board slamming the police. On April 25,PASA was revoked,and Gori was released from jail.

The Commission indicated the police had fudged facts to frame the Muslim youths. Police Inspector M N Trivedi had cleverly changed the facts in the FIR,and though LCB police was present (at the spot where the Muslim youths were publicly caned),it did not mention that in FIR. The Muslim accused were beaten up by LCB PSI Sonara and other policemen which is validated by the photographs submitted, the SHRC found.

The Commission has sought an explanation from the district authorities,which it found had done nothing to protect the victims. The human rights of no innocent citizen should be violated by public servants,and they should work with no biases and prejudices. The district magistrate and district authorities are authorized to act to maintain peace and prevent communal disharmony. But it is evident from the papers furnished (in this case) that no such steps were taken, the Commission said.

During the incident,the Amreli district magistrate was D G Jhalawadia,an officer who was recently photographed touching Chief Minister Narendra Modis feet at a public function. He was the final authority on deciding that charges should be framed under PASA.

On Friday,Jhalawadia,now Registrar of Co-operative Socieites,said: I dont want to comment on the issue. The chapter is closed now.

Gujarat deputy secretary Pradip Parekh,who deals with cases related to human rights violations,pleaded ignorance about the Savarkundala incident. I am not aware of any such incident, he said.