Receiving videos and photos from Gujarat’s #Junagadh which show Muslims being publicly flogged for protesting against the demolition of a local Dargah constructed in 1964.

As of last night, 176 Muslims were detained by the local police. pic.twitter.com/O21x3vjpYe

— Tarushi Aswani (@tarushi_aswani) June 17, 2023

More than 170 Muslims were detained by the police. The person seen collapsing at the end of the video is reportedly Zakir Makwana, 36, who was not a part of the protest, but was picked up, flogged and then beaten so brutally that he was unable to stand when his family saw him at local police station, his brother Noor Makwana alleged.

Zakir Makwana, 36, who was not a part of the protest, but was picked up, flogged & then beaten so brutally that he was unable to stand when his family saw him at local police station, his brother Noor Makwana alleged!

In this video, Zakir is seen collapsing in pain at the end!!! https://t.co/UpOLeX0rAu pic.twitter.com/XpTyp6vHvh

— Muslim Spaces (@MuslimSpaces) June 18, 2023

The Superintendent of Police, Junagadh, Ravi Teja,  is however, completely unaware of the said flogging incident. He said, if there has been such an incident, the culprits will be held. He further said that at least five police personnel, including the deputy SP, were injured in the incident and one civilian died allegedly due to stone pelting.

Reshma Mohammed Chand, 24, a local from the Majevadi Gate area said she has been traumatised by what happened at the protest and its aftermath. Her father and two brothers who were invested in dispelling other Muslims from protesting and arguing with the Police, were in turn harassed and beaten up by the Police, she alleged, as reported by The Wire. She further alleged that the police raided her home and picked up the male members of her family and even hit her mother. Another local, Ebrahimbhai Sama, told the publication that the police barged into his home, which is a good 1 km from the dargah, around 1 am and accused him of taking part in the protest. Sama alleged that the police ransacked his house. “It is easy to harass Muslims, damage their homes, because no one in the government cares about us,” he told The Wire. Similar stories are of many locals who have alleged that they were meted with similar harassment from the police.

Muslims in #Junagadh have also alleged that their homes were broken into by the Police and damaged. pic.twitter.com/Xyja1vKp3W

— Tarushi Aswani (@tarushi_aswani) June 18, 2023

Dargahs on target?

On June 14, the Junagadh Municipal Corporation had pasted a notice on the dargah seeking evidence of its ownership and it stated that if the same is not provided within 5 days, it would be demolished. Reportedly, dargahs in Junagadh have been on the Municipal Corporation’s radar for months. This particular Dargah, after being served the notice, submitted relevant documents and even shared the documents with The Wire, and the documents show that the shrine was initially laid in 1938, and was even registered when the region was a part of the Bombay state until 1960 and currently registered under the Gujarat State Waqf Board since 2016.

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Even as the lockdown is in place throughout the country, a young couple in their twenties was reportedly brutally hacked to death on the Vanthli-Keshod highway in Junagadh district on Wednesday evening in a case of caste-based murder, The Times of India reported.

Four months ago, Sanjay Ramsingh Ram and Dhara, both of them residents of Darsali village of Mangrol Taluka, had gotten married against the wishes of their families were allegedly murdered by hired assailants by the woman’s family.  

The incident took place on Wednesday evening when the couple had gone to the town of Keshod to renew Sanjay’s driving license. Sanjay’s sister had accompanied the couple too. While they were returning to Rajkot, where they lived after marriage, they were attacked by an assailant who came from behind on another bike and hit Sanjay with an axe. After the assailant brutally attacked Sanjay, he turned to attack his wife, Dhara. The couple died at the spot due to the loss of blood.

While Sanjay’s sister escaped with minor bruises but before she could call for help or make sense of what had transpired, the assailant had taken off on the bike. She was said to be helping the police with anything she remembered about the incident. Speaking with TOI, the Junagadh Superintendent of Police, Saurabh Singh, said, “We strongly suspect it to be a case of honour killing as the couple had an inter-caste marriage, which led to bitter animosity brewing among the woman’s family members. We suspect them of having executed this killing. We have some clues and are following them.”

Last month, in another suspected case of caste-based killing, a man was allegedly murdered by his wife’s father in Tamil Nadu. The marriage had taken place six months before the lockdown and while both, the man and woman belonged to the Most Backward Caste (MBC), the man belonged to the Oddar caste that was lowest among the group, Feminism in India had reported.

The woman’s family then got the marriage nullified with the help of the local panchayat and the boy’s family sent him away to the city to work for a living. However, when he returned to the village during the lockdown, the woman’s father, along with a relative, attacked him and killed him. The woman’s father and relative later surrendered themselves to the police.

Data and laws on caste-based killings

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2017 crime in India report which was published after the delay of a year, left out data on such killings citing data on it being “vague” and “unreliable”. However, data showed that such killings grew by 796 percent from 2014 to 2015, with 28 murders being reported in 2014 to 251 in 2015. 21 out these cases in 2015 were reported from Gujarat.

Currently, there is no separate law to punish the perpetrators of such murders. However, according to a research study, ‘Study on Honor Killing as a Crime in India – Cause and Solutions’ by Seied Beniamin Hosseini and C Basavaraju, honor killings are cases of homicide and murder which are grave crimes under the IPC Sections 299, 300 and 301. They also violate Articles 14, 15 (1) and (3), 17, 18, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

Under international provisions, India has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW 1979), which ensure that informal decision making bodies functioning on customary laws, like Khap Panchayats are refrained from enforcing their diktats on the rights of individuals.

Last year, the Rajasthan Assembly had passed the Rajasthan Prohibition of Interference with the Freedom of Matrimonial Alliances in the Name of Honour and Tradition Bill, 2019 against ‘honour killing’ with punishment ranging from life imprisonment and death penalty.

However, most of all caste-based killings which are extra-judicial punishments carried out by family members in most cases, cannot be eradicated through law alone. For this, individuals need to be sensitized against the crime, apart from public education on the issue. The researchers also state that discriminatory provisions relating to justifications, excuses or defenses on grounds of honour or passion must be removed in India, apart from authorities working with victims to ensure the safety of their physical and mental health.

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