Gujarat: Probe ordered into ‘police brutality’ on Dalits during lockdown

Botad Superintendent of Police has ordered an inquiry into an episode of alleged police brutality on eight Dalits who were allegedly beaten up by police for alleged violation of police notification banning unlawful assembly during the ongoing lockdown.

A relative of the eight Dalits said on the condition of anonymity that, “On March 25, one of our teenage boys had gone to get some milk from the market. A policeman had told him not to move out because of lockdown. At that time, the boy had told the policeman that he had gone to the market to fetch milk because it was needed in the family. This argument did not go down well with the policeman, who chased the boy to his house and then beat him.”

“Two days later, on March 28 at around 4 pm, around 40-50 policemen suddenly came to our locality and picked up eight male members from inside the houses and took them to Dhhasa police station. Later, they were falsely booked for violation of the police notification. During their police custody, the eight were badly beaten up by police,” he alleged.

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