Twitterati condemn public flogging of protesters by Gujarat police.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — In a clear case of police high-handedness in Gujarat, one elderly civilian was killed and 174 others detained on Friday night as members of the Muslim community protested an eviction notice served by the Junagadh Municipal Corporation to a local mosque.
The notice demanded document submission within five days. Due to an alleged lack of response from the mosque after the five-day period, the corporation proceeded with its action.
Some local Muslims resisted the corporation team as it arrived at the site to issue a demolition notice.
About eight bulldozers were brought in to facilitate the removal operation within the Uparkot section of the city, media reports said citing some local sources, reports reaching here said.
On May 27, 2023, local officials in Junagadh had executed a removal operation targeting unlawful encroachments, despite protests, reports IANS.
A total of 176 ‘illegal’ mazars, along with 18 additional religious sites, have been dismantled to date.
Meanwhile, a video has emerged showing a group of men lined up and being beaten up outside the mosque. The video shows two men in civilian clothes with handkerchiefs tied around their faces thrashing the lined-up people.
Hindutva Watch, an independent research initiative which monitors reports of attacks on minorities in India tweeted the video. Condemning the public flogging of the protesters, Twitterati shared the video widely on social media.
Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member of parliament, Imran Pratapgadhi, in a retweet highlighted the atrocity and expressed his concern.
“The Gujarat Police now has nothing to do with the judiciary. They penalise people on their own. They declare somebody guilty without an investigation,” he tweeted in Hindi.
Ashok Swain an Indian-origin academic and writer based in Sweden wondered why the world needs Taliban.
“Police in Gujarat, India, publicly flogging a group of Muslims because they had protested against the demolition of a local mosque. Why does the world blame Taliban?” he tweeted.
Another Twitter user Aasif Mujtaba, condemning the publicly flogging a group of Muslims by Gujarat Police, said in a tweet that there has been multiple cases where even sub judice structures were demolished, during demolition drive, without even waiting a final court order.
Junagadh Superintendent of Police Ravi Teja Vasamsetty claimed that the situation escalated at around 10.15 p.m. when the crowd began pelting stones at the police and set several vehicles ablaze.
To control the rapidly deteriorating situation, the police were forced to resort to lathi charge.
“Police personnel got injured in this incident. A total of 174 people have been rounded up. A civilian has died prima facie due to stone pelting but it will be clear after the post-mortem report. Further investigation is underway,” Vasamsetty was quoted as saying.
Following the outbreak of violence, a large reinforcement of police officers was deployed to the area to restore order and control the situation.
