Gujarat High Court frames contempt of court charges against 4 policemen accused of publicly flogging Muslim men

The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday framed charges under the Contempt of Courts Act against four policemen accused of publicly flogging five Muslim individuals in the Kheda district last year..A bench of Justices AS Supehia and Justice MR Mengdey framed the charges today. "We frame the charges as under: You, the respondent No.2 - Mr. AV Parmar, the respondent No.3 - Mr. DB Kumavar, Respondent No.5 - Mr. Kanaksingh Laxman Singh, and the respondent No.13 - Mr. Raju Rameshbhai Dabhi have actively participated and have carried out the act of flogging the applicants in public by tying them to a pole on 04.10.2022 at around 14:00 hrs. at Undhela Village Masjid chowk. Thus, you, the respondent No.2- Mr. AV Parmar, the respondent No.3- Mr. DB Kumavar, Respondent No.5-Mr. Kanaksingh Laxman Singh, and the respondent No.13-Mr. Raju Rameshbhai Dabhi by committing the aforesaid acts, have violated the law enunciated by the Apex Court in the case of law enunciated by the Apex Court in the case of DK Basu and hence, why you should not be punished under the provisions of Section 2(b) read with Section 12 of the Act," the order said..During the hearing, one of the police officers in question, DB Kumavat, claimed that he had no active involvement in the incident. Justice Supehia responded by pointing out that Kumavat was present when the incident took place and did not make any effort to rescue the victims while they were being mercilessly beaten. "He did not make any effort to rescue the victims who were being publicly flogged and mercilessly beaten. He also did not take any steps to stop the flogging which was an illegal and humiliating act. Since his presence is not disputed, it is clear that he played an active role in the said incident and had consented to the flogging," the judge observed. .The four policemen AV Parmar, DB Kumavat, Kanaksingh Laxmen Singh and Raju Rameshbhai Dabhi are facing contempt charges on allegations that they breached the Supreme Court's guidelines on arrest in the DK Basu case..The High Court has granted them time to file an affidavit in their defence by October 11..By way of background, five members of the Malek family were beaten up by policemen from Matar Police Station in Kheda district for allegedly hurling stones at a crowd during a Navratri event in Undhela village. Videos of the flogging incident also surfaced on social media.The Malek family members petitioned the High Court seeking contempt of court action against the policemen for violating the Supreme Court's guidelines issued in the case of DK Basu v. State of West Bengal, which called for compliance with proper procedure before arresting any individual. The petitions were filed through senior advocate IH Syed.The High Court sought a response from the State in the matter in October last year..A report later submitted by Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Chitra Ratnoo before the High Court stated that video clips and photographs of the incident were not clear. Therefore, it was difficult to identify all 14 policemen seen in the clips, the CJM told the High Court. Only four cops could be identified."Watching all the videos it could be made out that the videos were captured by some of the people standing in the public, which is controlled back by the police personnel in uniforms," the report further mentioned.The CJM informed that the victims also could not identify all the policemen involved in the incident. The High Court then proceeded to frame charges against the four cops who were identified. .[Read Order]