NHRC issues show-cause notice to the state government in one such case and asks why it should not pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation to the human rights defender

Shaheen Nazar | Clarion India

NEW DELHI – A Gujarat-based lawyer who is known for defending the rights of Dalits, tribals and the underprivileged is living underground for the last three months to avoid arrest.

The police in Surat district are alleged to have implicated him in an attempt-to-murder case and now seeking his arrest. “During the last nine months, the police have named me in four cases, including three cases of attempt to murder under section 307,” said Bilal Kagzi on the phone from his place of hiding on Tuesday.

Recently Kagzi, 39, got some relief as the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sent a show-cause notice to the Chief Secretary of Gujarat in another case in which Surat police had arrested him on an alleged trumped-up criminal charge.

The NHRC has asked the state government as to why it should not pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation to Kagzi for violation of his human rights. The Chief Secretary has been directed to submit a reply within four weeks.

Kagzi’s case has been taken up by Human Rights Defenders Alert (HRDA), a Tamil Nadu-based forum that functions “to initiate action on behalf of human rights defenders under threat or with security concerns”. The NHRC action has been prompted by complaints filed by the HRDA.

The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) has also raised concern over the plight of the Gujarat-based lawyer. “The CCBE would like to express its serious concern over the judicial harassment against lawyer Mohammad Bilal Gulam Rasul Kagzi,” the European lawyers’ group tells Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a letter dated July 17, 2020.

CCBE represents the bars and law societies of 45 countries, and, through them, more than 1 million European lawyers.

Kagzi is a practising lawyer at the Mangrol taluka court of Surat district. He also practises at the District and Sessions Court at Surat. He has become an apparent victim of personal vendetta of the police in Kosamba, a small town in Surat district. His name has allegedly been inserted in cases in which he is either a defence lawyer or has been challenging authorities on behalf of persecuted individuals or groups. He has specially been protesting the high-handedness of the police in his town.

The latest case which forced him to go underground is about an incident which happened on May 29. It was a fight between two groups of people. He was not present at the site. Yet, in the First Information Report (FIR), he was accused of firing a gun.

However, CCTV camera footage proves that Kagzi never left his house at the time of the reported incident and that preliminary inquiry by the police before the FIR also reveals that he never went to the place of the so-called incident and nor was he aware of it. It is reported that till the first week of July, no inquiry or any investigation has been launched by the police to determine his presence or absence at the place where the incident took place.

“We understand that although lawyer Mohammad Bilal Gulam Rasul Kagzi has approached the Gujarat High Court to revoke the FIR, it is reported that no interim relief was provided, nor was the decision revoked. It is now reported that he has been staying away from his home for fear of being arrested and ill-treated by the Kosamba police. Moreover, it is also reported in the last nine months that there have been 3 FIRs filed by the Kosamba police against him,” CCBE letter to the Prime Minister reads.

The CCBE has also drawn the PM’s attention to the “United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, in particular Principles 16, 17 and 18 on Guarantees for the functioning of lawyers,” and urged him to investigate the “acts of harassment” against Kagzi and ensure that he as well as “all lawyers in India are able to carry out their professional duties without fear of reprisal.”

In the first of the three cases filed against him, Kagzi secured the anticipatory bail from the Sessions Court, Surat. In the second case, the Gujarat High Court passed the order not to take any coercive steps against him. So, the police, allegedly, filed a third case to silence him.

Last fortnight, Kagzi won a major reprieve when NHRC, acting on a complaint lodged by Tamil Nadu-based HRDA’s memo, issued a show-cause to the Gujarat government. This case dates back to August 2019. As per the complaint, Kagzi and seven others were booked by the Kosamba police for attempt to murder and allied offences on August 12, 2019.

“The complainant in this case (against Kagzi and others) alleged that all the accused persons attempted to kill him. But Bilal was at his home due to the festival of Bakri Eid and was nowhere near the place where the alleged offence took place… his name was inserted and added by the police in collusion with the complainant, in order to nurse a grudge against him as he is representing the co-accused in number of criminal cases against the complainant,” reads the complaint of the HRDA.

Following the complaint, the NHRC asked the Superintendent of Police, Surat, to file an action-taken report, which was eventually submitted.

Referring to the report filed by Surat district police authorities, the NHRC’s order dated August 17 recorded, “It is reported that the allegation levelled against the victim was not substantiated during the course of inquiry and the victim had supplied (sic) CCTV footage wherein he was not present at the alleged incident spot. The IO of the case had been directed to investigate the case and file the charge-sheet with deletion of the name of the accused.”

The Commission order also said it had considered the report and there was an admitted lapse on the part of the police officers as the victim was falsely implicated.

The Gujarat government has been given four weeks to reply. Kagzi told Clarion India, “The Chief Secretary still has two more weeks to reply. Whatever he says in his reply, it proves my point. The police are behaving in a vindictive manner. Harassment and intimidation by the police is rampant in my area. This must come to an end.”