Bajrang Dal protests Navsari cops for not parading Muslim men arrested after garba clash

Members of the Bajrang Dal unit in Navsari in south Gujarat on Monday (September 29) organised a protest against the local police for not publicly parading 11 Muslim men who were arrested on Saturday (September 27) following a communal clash at a garba venue in the town. The cops' action broke a ‘tradition’ that the state has witnessed over the past few years.

The protesters, who also included some local people, submitted a written complaint against Navsari's Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sanjay Rai and demanded his suspension.

According to a first information report (FIR) filed by the local police in Navsari, the clash was triggered after a few Hindu men made derogatory remarks on a Muslim boy's post on social media. On September 26, the 15-year-old from Navsari posted the picture of a banner saying ‘I love Mohammad’ on Facebook.

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Some Hindus responded by striking off the word ‘Mohammad’ on the poster and replacing it with ‘Mahakal’ before posting a new picture on the same social media platform. This resulted in a clash between the two communities on Saturday night.

Navsari cops refused to parade arrested Muslim men

However, unlike some other similar communal clashes that took place in the state over the past week, the police in Navsari decided against parading the arrested men. This did not go down well with the resentful Hindu extremists.

One of the organisers of Sai Garba, the largest garba event in Navsari, where the clash occurred, said when the police were taking the arrested Muslim men to the police station, around 50 or 60 local people gheraoed the police, seeking a parade of the arrested.

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“But DSP Sanjay Rai handled the crowd calmly and explained that he could not do that. He also assured the crowd that appropriate action will be taken against the 11 Muslim men if they are found guilty, as he made his way through the crowd,” the garba-organising official said.

But the next day (September 28), some people identifying themselves as members of the Bajrang Dal barged into the venue without passes and threatened to protest against the police there for not publicly parading the arrested, the organiser said. He said that when they could not convince the protesters to hold their demonstration somewhere else, they called the police.

After the complaint was filed, a team of police led by DSP Rai reached the spot.

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“Around 18 or 20 men were shouting slogans, throwing chairs and creating a ruckus at the garba venue. We tried to talk to them first and handle the situation peacefully. But the men kept abusing DSP Sanjay Rai verbally and threatened to complain about him to senior officials in Gandhinagar,” said one of the police inspectors who was among the seven personnel accompanying the top officer.

“We gave three verbal warnings, asking them to leave the venue. When they refused, we had to resort to using force and lathi charge,” he added.

While DSP Rai could not be reached, Navsari Superintendent of Police Rahul Patel told The Federal, “The police team visited the Sai Garba venue only after getting complaints. It had to take measures to maintain law and order at the garba venue.”

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He, however, declined to comment on the arrest of only Muslim men after the clash, where both communities resorted to violence and stone-pelting.

Public parade by police has become a trend

In the last four or five years, Gujarat has seen a trend of its police publicly parading people, most of whom are from the minority community, accused in crime.

Several petitions and notices from the human rights commission and the Gujarat High Court have failed to reverse the pattern.

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Harsh Sanghavi, minister of state, home, has openly supported the act of parading. He was even physically present at two such instances in his home district, Surat, in year, where Muslim men were thrashed and publicly paraded for allegedly pelting stones at the idol of Lord Ganesh during Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.

Gujarat home minister backs parading Muslims

Hitendrasinh Rajput, spokesperson of Gujarat Vishva Hindu Parishad, told The Federal, while referring to a recent communal clash in Bahiyal village in Gandhinagar district of the state, “The state home minister Harsh Sanghavi had applauded the Gandhinagar Police when they dragged the Muslim men out of their home and paraded them. He even visited the village, applied tilak and participated in garba to assure the Hindus that no Muslim will ever attack a garba venue again.

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“However, in Navsari, police wiped off the tilak from the forehead of our men and thrashed them when they demanded the right action against the Muslims arrested after the attack on the garba venue. Some of our men are injured. We demand the suspension of DSP Sanjay Rai,” he added.

Since September 23, several places across Gujarat have witnessed communal clashes triggered by social media posts stating ‘I love Mohammad’ as the Navratri festival kicked off. So far, the Gujarat Police has arrested 60 men from the minority community from Bahiyal, 88 from Godhra, 20 from Ahmedabad, eight from Kutch, besides 11 in Navsari, after the communal clashes.

Advocate accuses police of targeting Muslims

Advocate Modish Qazi, who is representing the Muslim men arrested after the clash in Bahiyal, slammed the state police, saying only the minority community was being targeted.

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“The recent incidents of communal clashes happened after the poster on social media post saying ‘I love Mohammed’ was defiled or derogatory statements were made about it. Yet, the Gujarat Police has arrested only Muslim men across the state. In Bahiyal village, shops of both Hindus and Muslims were burnt down in the clash. But police broke open the doors of Muslim homes, indiscriminately dragged the men out and misbehaved with the women. No FIR has so far been filed against any Hindu men who instigated the clash,” he said.

In February, Gujarat’s human rights commission issued a notice to the police commissioner of Surat demanding an explanation on the incidents of public shaming and parading of the accused within a month. The notice also stated that the practice was illegal and went against the fundamental rights of any individual.

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No response was filed by the Surat Police Commissioner Anupam Singh Gehlot, however. On September 15, the National Human Rights Commission sought an explanation from him within four weeks.

'Police don't care'

“For the past few years, the Gujarat Police has been publicly parading alleged accused of various crimes, especially if the accused are from the minority community. The practice began around 2019 in the guise of the reconstruction of the crime scene. But now, the police have become brazen and don’t bother to cite a reason for parading the accused. Locally, it began to be referred to as ‘varghoro’ in Gujarat. The term literally means a grand procession used in the context of a groom’s wedding procession or a religious leader’s procession. It has become a practice that is cheered by the public as men are paraded across a town or city. The reason behind this is the support of the government and lack of legal action against such police personnel,” R D Mendpara, a Surat-based lawyer who filed a petition with the state human rights commission about the matter, told The Federal.

“Multiple legal notices have been issued by various organisations and lawyers against the practice. In 2016, the Gujarat High Court framed contempt of court charges against five policemen accused of parading a man in public in Rajkot.

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“In 2022, the Kheda Police had publicly flogged and paraded four Muslims on mere suspicion of creating a ruckus at a garba venue. When the matter came up at the high court, the SP of Kheda defended the police personnel and said the action was necessary to maintain law and order. After the case was heard by the apex court, four police personnel were awarded 14 days of simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000,” Mendpara added.