New Delhi: The death of a 64-year-old Muslim man in Ahmedabad on May 20, after he was taken into police custody in connection with a cow slaughter case, has sparked allegations of custodial torture and renewed concerns over the policing of Gujarat’s stringent cow protection laws.
Zaheer Shaikh, a resident of Ahmedabad’s Juhapura area, died after being detained by police personnel from Ahmedabad’s Vejalpur police station. Family members have alleged that Shaikh was brutally tortured while in custody and later succumbed to his injuries. The allegations have triggered protests in the area, with residents demanding action against the officials allegedly involved.
Police had booked Shaikh under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act after claiming to have recovered more than 500 kilograms of suspected beef, a live calf, vehicles and equipment from an open field in Juhapura earlier this month. According to the police, Shaikh had fled during the initial raid and was formally arrested on May 18.
Following his death, Shaikh’s family accused the police of custodial torture. Shaikh’s son, Tofik, who saw and recorded his father’s condition in the hospital, has alleged that his father was treated in an inhuman manner by the police despite his old age. “They kept beating him and pulling his beard, and they even hit him in his private parts,” Tofik told The Wire.
Tofik recorded a video in which Shaikh claimed that policemen beat him and demanded money while he was in custody. Family members and their lawyer also alleged that he was forced to consume a suspicious drink during interrogation. After his death, protests broke out outside the hospital, with demonstrators demanding an independent probe and action against the officers involved.
Officials said Shaikh’s health deteriorated after he consumed medication brought by his wife at the police station.
The family have said that they have pushed for Shaikh’s postmortem to be videographed in the presence of a magistrate and that a judicial magistrate-led inquiry into the accidental death must be conducted.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.