'Enjoy Custody': Supreme Court Reprimands Gujarat Cops For Public Flogging Of Muslims In Kheda

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday reprimanded the Gujarat Police for the public flogging of five individuals from the Muslim community in a village in Kheda district in 2022. The court questioned the officials from where they drew the authority to tie individuals to poles and subject them to physical assault.

A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta was hearing an appeal by four police personnel-- inspector A V Parmar, sub-inspector D B Kumavat, head constable K L Dabhi and constable R R Dabhi-- against the October 19, 2023 order of the Gujarat High Court by which they were sentenced to 14-day simple imprisonment for committing contempt of court for violating the apex court's guidelines about detaining and interrogating suspects, reported news agency PTI.

During the hearing, Justice Gavai said, "(Do) you have an authority under law to tie people to a pole and beat them? Go and enjoy the custody."

Justice Mehta, while reprimanding the officials, said, "What kind of atrocities are these? Tying the people to a pole, beating them in public view and taking videos. Then you want this court to intervene."

Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for the officials, said they were already facing criminal prosecution, departmental proceedings, and an inquiry by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), as per the PTI report.

"The question here is the high court's jurisdiction to proceed against them in contempt proceedings," Dave said, adding no offence of wilful disobedience was made out against them in terms of the apex court's 1996 verdict in the DK Basu case where it had issued guidelines for making arrest, and detention and interrogation of suspects.

"Was there any wilful disobedience of this court's verdict? This is the question for which the answer has to be found. Were the policemen aware of the verdict?" he said.

Hitting back at Dave, Justice Gavai said ignorance of the law is not a valid defence. "Every police officer ought to know what is the law laid down in DK Basu. As students of law, we have been hearing and reading about the DK Basu verdict," he said, the PTI report added.

Dave, however, asserted the accused policemen cannot be prosecuted for the offence under the contempt jurisdiction of the high court and sought a stay of the high court order sentencing them to 14-day imprisonment, saying otherwise the appeal will become infructuous.

Justice Gavai castigated the officials, saying derisively, "Go and enjoy the custody. You will be a guest of your own officers. They will provide you special treatment."

Dave persisted with his prayer for stay and said even the high court had stayed the operation of its order by three months. Justice Gavai agreed to his request and ordered a stay on the sentence, reported PTI.

Five Muslims were allegedly beaten up with batons by the accused policemen, who tied them to a pole. The five were among the 13 people picked up for their alleged involvement in throwing stones at a garba event in Undhela village of Kheda district during the Navratri festival in October 2022. Some villagers and police personnel were reportedly injured.

Later, the five accused, including the main complainant Jahirmiya Malek, had approached the high court claiming police officials committed contempt of court by flouting the Supreme Court's guidelines, the PTI report stated.