A private complaint has been filed in a court in Surendranagar following allegations that two policemen, both belonging to the upper caste Darbar community, tortured a tribal man at Nanikati village in Limdi taluka of the district on October 7. The policemen allegedly stripped 40-year-old Kana Gesapara at the panchayat office before subjecting him to third-degree torture.

“On October 7... the peon from the panchayat office came to call me. As I followed him, Head Constable Janaksinh Rana and Constable Indu Rana... grabbed me by the collar and dragged me to the panchayat office where they stripped me. Later, they pulled me out of the panchayat room and beat me up in full public view,” said Gesapara. “They then forced me to bend down and pushed a stick up my rectum. They then put the stick in my mouth,” he alleged. Locals said the police had come to look for Gesapara following a complaint filed by his wife.

“The policemen then took me to the Ramji Temple. They made me lie down and hit me on the buttocks with sticks. They then made me wear a ghaghra and walk to the panchayat office, where they made me dance,” he said. He was taken to the Panitola police station where he was detained overnight. “The next morning they took me to the court. Enroute they bathed me at a hotel to clean blood stains.”

While the police refused to admit a complaint, allegedly due to political pressure, a complaint was filed at Limdi court. “We moved a private complaint even before we moved Gesapara’s bail application,” said V K Rathod, his lawyer. Medical reports have shown injury marks, he added.

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