Flogging of Muslim men: Where is the law that accused can be tied to a pole and beaten with lathis? Gujarat High Court asks State

In a hearing before the Gujarat High Court on Monday, the State government dragged its feet on accepting whether or not five Muslim men were thrashed and beaten up by the police in full public view in October last year [Jahirmiya Rehmumiya Malek v. State of Gujarat]..During the hearing of the case, a Bench of Justices AS Supehia and MR Mengdey asked public prosecutor Mithesh Amin to clearly place on record whether the State government accepted the fact that the incident took place. "We had clarified in the last hearing itself that we will not decide this case on the basis of passion. We only want you to say it (flogging incident) occured or not. Either you can say that this was your officer's duty and if they wouldn't have done this, then the situation would have gone to some other extent. You can say that the incident didn't occur at all and the evidence on record should not be considered," the Bench told Amin. The State's public prosecutor, however, refused to make a clear statement. He submitted, "Before making such a statement, let me read some material before your lordship and then you decide what is to be done. I say that they have pleaded falsely about the incident and that there is a malafide on their part.".Relying on statements of some of the accused in the case, Amin submitted that Muslim community members had hatched a conspiracy to terrorise Hindus living in the vicinity and to prevent them from playing Garba in the village during the Navratri festival."Some incident took place in that area even during Holi festival. This place has been sensitive and sensitivity has flared up there on several occasions. As a part of their conspiracy, they pelted stones to derail the festival of Hindus. Police came to the spot and detained some persons to ensure the situation does not flare up," he argued..Further, Amin tried to highlight discrepancies in the timings of the altercation between the communities, the detention of the Muslim men and the incident of flogging as stated by the Muslim men in their petition. He also highlighted the fact that disciplinary proceedings have already been initiated against the errant cops. To this, the Bench asked, "Forget the discrepancy in the timing. Can it (flogging) be done but? Can you point out any provision that an accused can be tied up to a pole and beaten with lathis in full public view?"Amin responded, "No milords. I can only say that they have pleaded falsely.".The prosecutor went on to read WhatsApp chats of the petitioners, who are facing prosecution for stone-pelting at the Garba event."That was a situation which could flare up and so in such a circumstance the policemen are not going to sit with DK Basu guidelines. They (police) only wanted to control the situation," he argued. The Bench weighed in, saying, "Definitely, they must control the situation. But we are on what happened subsequently. We are not doubting the manner and method you tried to handle the situation by making arrests etc. The question is after the altercation on October 3, were they detained and taken into custody and the subsequent incident took place.".Amin responded that the question of custody does not arise at all, as they were only detained at night. "But how come question of custody arises? I read the chats so they will have to show from where they were speaking to each other if they were in custody," Amin told the Bench. On hearing this, the Court said that the State must then deny the incident. The Bench stopped short of recording the same in its order, as the public prosecutor requested the judges not to record the said statement. The hearing will now take place on July 6. Senior Advocate IH Syed appeared for the victims. .Public flogging of Muslim Men: Gujarat High Court pulls up errant cops, asks them to respect human rights instead of apologising to Court