India News | Guj HC Raps Cops, Says They Were Swayed by Victims' Community Profile During Probe

Ahmedabad, Mar 21 (PTI) The Gujarat High Court has come down heavily on the police in cases where it said some people were arrested and subjected to "extreme excess" merely because they belonged to a particular community.

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Justice Nikhil Kariel, in his March 16 order on a plea filed by one Mansukh Devipujak, his wife and another couple, also asked the state government as to why "exemplary compensation" should not be paid to to the victims of this custodial torture case.

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Two of the four petitioners were arrested by Dhandhuka police and falsely implicated in a case under section 328 (causing hurt by means of poison) and 394 (causing hurt while committing robbery) of the IPC, only to be later released by the trial court as the only evidence against them was their confession.

The police had also implicated them in four other undetected crimes.

Two other petitioners were arrested by another police team under sections 302 (murder) of the IPC, but the investigating officer submitted before the magistrate that the petitioners had confessed to the alleged crimes on account of excessive torture by police.

"The petitioners appear to be victims on account of their birth in a particular community. It appears the police officials were swayed by the fact that the petitioners belong to a particular community," the court said.

The petitioners were profiled as law breakers by the police and arrested merely on account of the fact that they were "born in a particular community and certain persons in the community are engaged in doing illegal activity," including one of their relatives, the HC further said.

The court said it cannot overlook the fact that the petitioners were arrested, beaten up by the police, before being later acquitted by the trial court.

It ordered an officer not below the rank of deputy secretary of the state home department to file an affidavit as to why the government should not be directed to pay exemplary compensation to them.

The court said an inquiry conducted by Deputy Superintendent of Police, Viramgam and Superintendent of Police, Ahmedabad (Rural) in the second case could not unearth any fault by the police officials.

The court directed the Inspector General of Police, Ahmedabad Range, to conduct an inquiry into the cause of arrest of the petitioners and their being implicated in other undetected offences and submit a report as to whether any excess had been committed by the police officials at any stage.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)