Junagadh court acquits 11 cops in 2019 ‘custodial death’ of 60-yr-old man

The Gujarat government has not yet filed an appeal against the acquittal, District Government Pleader (DGP) Nirav Purohit told The Sunday Express.

The NHRC relied on medical experts on its panel and report of post-mortem examination of Bajaniya’s body to arrive at the conclusion while terming the report of the judicial inquiry into the incident as “lacking in sincerity”.

“The Commission has every reason to believe that deceased Hirabhai Rupabhai Bajaniya was subjected to assault and torture while he was in the custody of police Junagadh City “C” Division police station and the injuries sustained by him during police custody has attributed in his death. It is a fit case of violation of human rights of the deceased where his next of kin deserve monetary compensation,” the NHRC ruled.

The NHRC also directed that a notice be served on the Gujarat government through the chief secretary asking to show cause within six weeks as to why it should not be ordered to pay Rs 7.5 lakh compensation to the victim’s family.

However, the court of Jigar Mehta, judicial magistrate (first class) of Junagadh magisterial court on on November 29, 2022, acquitted 11 policemen, including two police sub-inspectors (PSIs) after key witnesses including Bajaniya’s widow, turned hostile and the court allowed a closure summary in the murder charge as police, citing the same report of judicial enquiry, said there was no evidence of custodial torture.

The human rights watchdog’s notice to the Gujarat government came after the NHRC took cognisance of Bajaniya’s death after the then superintendent of police (SP) of Junagadh district intimated the NHRC on August 23, 2019 about the incident. On the same date, one Dhana Kumar of National Campaign Against Torture, a New Delhi-based organisation, filed a complaint with the NHRC in connection with 60-year-old Bajaniya’s death.

As per an FIR registered at ‘C’ Division police station in Junagadh city on August 28, 2019, Bajaniya, Shankar Kaliyavada and 10 other men were allegedly picked from their huts near Vinayak Apartment on Chobari Road of Junagadh town at around 2 am on August 16, 2019 by around a dozen policemen.

The FIR states the policemen took the 12 men, who were casual labourers, to the ‘C’ Division police station compound in Junagadh. Once they were inside the police station, policemen told the labourers that there was a robbery in Meeranagar area of Junagadh city near their huts and asked to confess if any of them had committed it.

However, as per the FIR registered on the basis of a complaint filed by Kaliyavad, the 12 labourers denied any role in the alleged robbery. The police then took Bajaniya inside a room in the police station building and allegedly beat him up. Later on, police took three others inside the room one after another and allegedly beat them. After coming out of the room, Bajaniya and three others told fellow labourers that police beat them up with plastic pipes inside the room in a bid to make them to confess, the FIR said.

At around 10 am that day, the FIR records, police took Kaliyavada, Bajaniya and others behind the police station and caned them using plastic pipes and then pushed them in the lockup inside the police station.

As per the FIR, when police were interrogating Bajaniya after bringing him out of the lockup room at around 3 pm that day, he fainted. He was rushed a hospital in Junagadh where he was declared dead.

As per details of the NHRC proceedings, the then third additional chief judicial magistrate of Junagadh conducted a judicial enquiry into the matter and concluded that Bajaniya had died due to a “heart attack” and not due to external injuries recorded by doctors in their post-mortem examination of Bajaniya’s body.

The NHRC observed that the magisterial enquiry was silent on how the deceased suffered injuries recorded in post-mortem report, that it neglected statements of co-accused to the effect that the victim was beaten by police.

“The magisterial enquiry has overruled the final cause of death given by the doctors that the death was due to acute coronary artery insufficiency associated with multiple injuries present over the body. Thus, the magisterial enquiry conducted into the incident does not inspire much confidence as the same has not been conducted in a sincere manner,” ruled the NHRC.

Relying on opinion provided by medical expert on NHRC’s panel and the post-mortem examination report of doctors in Jamnagar, the NHRC concluded that external injuries inflicted on the victim seemed custodial in nature and they contributed to Bajaniya’s death.

The accused policemen were booked under IPC sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 330 (voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession), 342 (wrongful confinement), 348 (wrongful confinement to extort confession) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

While police arrested 11 policemen, including two PSIs and nine constables, the investigating officer filed a closure summary for Section 302, saying Bajaniya had died of a heart attack and also cited the judicial enquiry report.

A magistratial court in Junagadh approved the closure summary and then tried the 11 for lesser offences under IPC 323, 330, 342, 348 and 34.

During the trial, the prosecution didn’t examine doctors who had conducted post-mortem of Bajaniya’s body and forensic experts who had analysed CCTV footage as prosecution witnesses.

The court refused to weigh contents of CCTV footage of police station as evidence, observing witnesses, in their deposition during trial, had stated that they were not taken to police station.