Gujarat: Three cops suspended for ‘custodial torture’ of Amreli woman in Vekariya case

This came a day after the DGP handed over the investigation into the actions of the Amreli Police to Nirlipt Rai, the DIG of the State Monitoring Cell (SMC) that works directly under his orders. The suspension order of Amreli district head constable Kishan Ansodariya, constable Vanraj Mulyasiya and woman constable Heena Mevada were also issued the same day.

Earlier, following her allegations of custodial torture, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed by Amreli SP Sanjay Kharat to probe the claims. However, the Patidar woman and her lawyer Anand Yagnik Monday rejected the SIT investigation alleging that it would not be impartial.

“We met the DGP and said that we need an investigation by an IG-rank officer and suggested the names of two officers. But he had already given the investigation to DIG Nirlipt Rai and suspended some lower rank personnel. While we have kept our fingers crossed, we do not doubt the honesty and integrity of Nirlipt Rai,” Yagnik told mediapersons after meeting Sahay.

The DGP told The Indian Express that the woman and her advocate alleged that she was beaten in the presence of DSP. “So they do not have confidence in that SIT… So I assured them we would inquire into it,” he said.

Asked about the mandate of his inquiry, Rai said, “On Sunday, the inquiry into the actions of the police staff involved in the incidents emerging from the investigation into the matter of the fake letter in Amreli was handed over to me. While I will inquire into the actions of the police, the original investigation into the fake letter will be investigated by the Amreli Police itself.”

Congress leader Paresh Dhanani, who has been staging a protest demanding action against the officers involved, termed the suspension of three low-rank police personnel, as “partly justice”. “We want (action against) those who went to her house at midnight to arrest her and those who had beaten her in the public and those who have paraded her, including police inspectors and sub-inspector. Apart from this, the political leaders should also be identified and action should be taken against them on whose direction police had acted,” he said Monday.

On Sunday, former Union minister and Rajkot BJP MP Parshottam Rupala had also said that the police were inappropriate in their action against the ‘Patidar daughter’.

According to the woman’s father, they were woken up by police officers in plain clothes in the Vithlapur-Khambhaliya village of Amreli around midnight on December 27. They informed him that his daughter was wanted in connection with a case registered at Amreli police station. Eventually, it emerged that the woman is among the four people accused of allegedly using the letterhead of Kanpariya to write a forged letter to state BJP general secretary Ratnakar with a copy to Union Minister Amit Shah defaming Amreli MLA Kaushik Vekariya.

Her father, a 52-year-old cotton farmer, Monday told The Indian Express that the police “flogged my daughter on the back and leg with a leather belt”.

The Patidar woman, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Applications, was employed at a firm run by Amreli district co-ordination committee member Manish Vaghasiya, around nine kms from her home in the village. “She used to earn Rs 10,000 per month,” the father said.

Vaghasiya, Jaswantgarh village sarpanch Ashok Mangrolia and an accomplice are the three other accused in the case. The woman is the only one who has been released on bail following a huge uproar from Patidar leaders, across party lines, over her alleged parading.