THE NATIONAL Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of media reports on the alleged torture of a teenaged boy – a minor – in police custody at a police station in Gujarat’s Rajkot district last month.
The NHRC, in a statement on Wednesday, said it had issued notice to the DGP, Gujarat, seeking a detailed report on the matter within two weeks. It said, “The Commission has observed that the contents of the media report, if true, raise a serious issue of human rights violation of the boy.”
This incident came to light after a video surfaced online purportedly showing a man sitting on a chair, holding a boy writhing in pain, by his hair, and pulling out handfuls of it and throwing it in a dustbin, laughing as the boy pleaded with him to stop.
The man was later identified as a sanitation worker employed at the police station, police said. The video was allegedly filmed at a police station in Rajkot by a constable posted there, police said.
The two were booked under BNS sections 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 198 (willfully disobeying a law to cause injury) and 54 (abettor present), as well as section 75 (cruelty to a child) of the Juvenile Justice Act, police had said on Monday.
This was the second such incident of alleged police torture against a minor youth within a month in Gujarat. On September 13, four constables were booked for the alleged torture of a teenaged minor over several days in August, in Botad district. A petition in this case was earlier filed in the Supreme Court and is currently listed in the Gujarat High Court.
However, The Indian Express has learnt that no action has been taken yet by the NHRC in the Botad case wherein a complaint had been filed on September 10 in connection with the alleged torture of another youth – also a minor – at a police station in Botad district in August. The minor boy was hospitalised for several days in Ahmedabad, and an FIR was registered against four police personnel in Botad.
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When The Indian Express checked the status of the Botad case on the NHRC website, it said “No Action Taken”.
This matter had been raised in a complaint by an activist, Mujahid Nafees of the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC), on September 10, almost a month before the Rajkot incident came to light.
Nafees said on Tuesday that he had earlier written to Gujarat DGP Vikas Sahay, flagging both the incidents.
“There are several such incidents taking place in Gujarat but the number of suo motu cognizance cases by the national commissions is low. This is a morale boost for those involved in illegal activities. There should be a special officer of the NHRC in Gujarat who can take cognizance of such matters,” he told The Indian Express.
Brendan Dabhi works with The Indian Express, focusing his comprehensive reporting primarily on Gujarat. He covers the region's most critical social, legal, and administrative sectors, notably specializing at the intersection of health, social justice, and disasters.
Expertise
Health and Public Policy: He has deep expertise in healthcare issues, including rare diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), the complex logistics of organ transplants, and public health challenges like drug-resistant TB and heat health surveillance. His on-ground reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic and Mucormycosis was critical in exposing healthcare challenges faced by marginalized communities in Gujarat.
Social Justice and Legal Administration: He reports on the functioning of the legal and police system, including the impact of judicial philosophy, forensics and crucial administrative reforms (. He covers major surveillance and crackdown exercises by the Gujarat police and security on the international border.
Disaster and Crisis Management: His work closely tracks how government and civic bodies respond to large-scale crises, providing essential coverage on the human and administrative fallout of disasters including cyclones, floods, conflict, major fires and reported extensively on the AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad.
Civic Infrastructure and Governance: Provides timely reports on critical civic failures, including large scale infrastructure projects by the railways and civic bodies, as well as the enforcement of municipal regulations and their impact on residents and heritage. ... Read More
