Gujarat: 15 days after he landed in hospital following ‘police brutality’, 17-year-old Botad teenager discharged

The boy had to undergo multiple rounds of dialysis at the private hospital in Ahmedabad; his family had alleged that he was illegally confined and brutally thrashed for days by four constables after he was accused of theft

By: Express News Service

Ahmedabad | September 17, 2025 01:05 AM IST

3 min read

The family has alleged that the boy, who was accused of theft by two men from his neighbourhood, was illegally confined by the police and brutally thrashed for 8-9 days

After a fortnight of treatment, including multiple rounds of dialysis, the 17-year-old boy who has filed a complaint of police brutality against four constables in Botad town was discharged from Zydus Hospital in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

Four police personnel were booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 120 (1) (voluntarily causing hurt to compel a confession or restore property), 127(8) (wrongful confinement), and 54 (abettor present), as well as under Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act section 75 (cruelty to a child) after the matter was mentioned in the Supreme Court on Friday.

On Monday, the SC directed the petitioner, the 19-year-old sister of the minor, to move Gujarat High Court.

The family has alleged that the boy, who was accused of theft by two men from his neighbourhood, was illegally confined by the police and brutally thrashed for 8-9 days while under illegal confinement by the constables, who are alleged to have also extorted Rs 50,000 from his elderly grandparents — his guardians.

He was then rushed to Zydus Hospital by the police constables in question.

According to sources in the teenager’s family, the boy was taken out of the hospital on a wheelchair Tuesday evening with the sole of his left foot bandaged. They said this was due to injuries from the alleged police assault.

The minor has alleged that he was kept in a room at the police station for more than a week.

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The Supervising Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Maharshi Raval, confirmed that there is no record of anyone even making an oral complaint against the teenager on the police control helpline and that it was Constable Kaushik Jani who, after receiving a call, had allegedly taken the minor to the police station from the custody of two other civilian youths who had accused the boy of theft.

The FIR was filed on September 13 against the police constables, including Jani, Yogesh Solanki, Ajay Rathod and Kuldeepsinh Vaghela, and other unknown persons, hours after the matter was mentioned in the SC. No action has been taken against the accused police personnel yet apart from their transfer from Botad Town police station to Botad Police Headquarters – less than 2 kms apart.

On Tuesday, Inspector S R Kharadi of Botad Town police station, who is investigating the case against his own former staff members, confirmed with The Indian Express that none of the four constables have either been arrested or suspended from service.

While the counsel of the minor had pleaded with the top court, fearing that CCTV footage and other evidence could be destroyed, Inspector Kharadi confirmed that CCTV footage of the days in question, tentatively between August 19 and 28, is available. He, though, added that it was a time-consuming affair to take a backup of the footage and that the process was still underway.

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