SUO MUTO Vs. CHIEF SECRETARY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) J. B. PARDIWALA, J. : - 1. Almost thirty years down the memory lane, the Supreme Court in a decision known as 'Premchand v. Union of India and ors.'reported in [1981] SC 613 had posed a question who will police the Police ? We have no doubt in our mind that this question, even with the best of the efforts put in by one and all, more particularly the judiciary of this country, still remains unanswered.

(2.) The genesis of this litigation lies in an application dated nil (along with original photographs and Compact Disc) addressed by one Dr. Jayanti M. Mankadia and others to the Chief Justice, stating that on 25th June 2012, many innocent Dalits became victim of Police atrocity at Ambedkarnagar Colony in the Thorala Ward of Rajkot City. It has been stated that the said incident is connected with a series of other incidents which occurred after the murder of a Dalit leader named Gunvant Rathore by few non -Dalit persons in the area on 24th June 2012. The funeral of the late Gunvant Rathore was organised on 25th June 2012. As a mark of respect to the departed leader, around 250 Dalits had participated in the burial ceremony. After the burial ceremony was over, some of the members of the Dalit community took out a procession demanding the arrest of all the accused involved in the murder of their leader. As a mark of protest, they gathered on the main road close to their residential colony named Ambedkarnagar. The Police party posted at that particular place unleashed a brutal and indiscriminate lathi -charge on the people who had gathered demanding arrest of the accused persons involved in the murder of their leader. The Police also pelted stones and fired teargas shells to disperse the mob of Dalits. The lathi -charge was completely unprovoked, unwarranted and the violence that followed the lathi -charge was even more brutal. It has also been stated in the letter addressed to the Chief Justice that as the tension started mounting, many of the Dalit inhabitants of Ambedkarnagar closed their houses and kept themselves confined inside their respective houses. The Police barged into the residential areas, forcefully broke into the houses shouting the worst possible caste abuses against Dalits and assaulted one and all who were found in the houses, as a result of which small children, women and young girls sustained simple injuries to severe injuries.

(3.) It is also alleged that following the lathi -charge and the brutal assault by the Police on the Dalits inside their houses, the Police indiscriminately detained several persons who were not even present in the procession. It is further alleged that a young mother with a three year old child was also arrested and charged under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code and was still languishing in the jail.