Don't punish us, instead give compensation to victims: Policemen who flogged Muslim men to Gujarat High Court

Four policemen against whom the Gujarat High Court framed contempt of court charges on Wednesday urged the Court to consider granting compensation to the five Muslim men they had flogged in public in October last year, instead of punishing them [Jahirmiya Rehamumiya Malek v. State of Gujarat]..The four officers - AV Parmar, DB Kumavar, Kanaksingh Laxman Singh and Raju Rameshbhai Dabhi - told the Bench of Justices AS Supehia and Gita Gopi through Senior Advocate Prakash Jani to consider the years of service they have put in before deciding the contempt of court charge."We have given over 10 to 15 years of service to the State Police. In the instant proceedings, ultimately, if the Court holds us guilty, we urge you to please do not punish us as it will have a huge impact on our service records. We urge you to please consider ordering compensation to the complainants," Jani told the Bench.The Bench then sought a response from the complainant or the victims of the incident and posted the matter for further hearing on Monday, October 16..The five victims were beaten up by policemen from the Matar Police Station in Kheda district for allegedly hurling stones at a crowd during a Navratri event in Undhela village. Videos of the flogging incident also surfaced on social media.The family members of the victims petitioned the High Court seeking contempt of court action against the policemen for violating the Supreme Court's guidelines issued in the case of DK Basu v. State of West Bengal, which called for compliance with proper procedure before arresting any individual.The petitions were filed through Senior Advocate IH Syed.The High Court sought a response from the State in the matter in October last year..Responding to the plea, Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar Gadhiya stated that the Muslim men, along with 159 members of their community, had conspired to disrupt a Garba event to create fear among the Hindu community. The officer had further said that in order to maintain peace in the area, the petitioners were beaten up by the cops.Accordingly, to ascertain role of each of the 14 policemen in the incident, the High Court had ordered the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Nadia district to scrutinise the videos and the images which went viral on social media.A report later submitted by CJM Chitra Ratnoo before the High Court stated that the video clips and photographs of the incident were not clear. Therefore, it was difficult to identify all 14 policemen seen in the clips. Only four cops could be identified.The CJM informed the High Court that the victims could not identify all the policemen involved in the incident.The High Court then proceeded to frame charges against the four cops who were identified.