Video clips that purportedly show a man flogging Muslim men arrested for pelting stones at an event in Kheda district of Indian state of Gujarat have triggered outrage, with the Opposition identifying the person involved as a police officer and demanding that action be taken.
The clips show at least 10 Muslim men being held, one after the other, by a group of men in plainclothes against an electricity pole at a chowk and being flogged with a lathi by one man with a holstered gun on his belt.
Those flogged are then seen folding their hands before a cheering crowd before being directed by the men in plainclothes to get into a police van nearby.
When contacted, Indravadan Patel, sarpanch of Undhela village in Matar taluka, where the stone-pelting took place, told The Indian Express: “The police arrested ten of the 43 accused (for the clashes), brought them to the spot where the stone pelting was held and punished them.”
While the identities of those who were flogged are yet to be ascertained, the police confirmed that all the ten who were arrested for allegedly disrupting the event on Monday night were from the Muslim community.
Patel said he had organised the event and claimed to have sustained head injuries in the clashes.
IGP (Ahmedabad Range) V Chandrashekhar said: “We are yet to ascertain the genuineness of the video.” Kheda district SP Rajesh Gadhia said he “would look into the alleged video”.
Referring to the video clips, Congress MLAs Imran Khedawala and Gyasuddin Sheikh said the men seen flogging the accused in the videos were police and demanded that they be “immediately suspended”.
Taking to Twitter, Khedawala and Sheikh posted similar messages: “The police pinned the accused to the electricity pole and thrashed them with sticks while the public applauded… The officials who took the law in their hands should be immediately suspended.”