Police in India’s Gujarat beat suspect in partner’s murder — Dawn
In the city of Bhavnagar in India’s Gujarat state, police officers publicly beat Faisal Lakhani, who was detained on suspicion of murdering his partner. Officers took the man to the site of the alleged crime on Friday to reconstruct the circumstances of the incident, Dawn reports, citing AFP and local media.
Videos spread on social media
Videos that spread on social media show that Lakhani’s hands were tied with ropes. A uniformed police officer repeatedly strikes his legs and buttocks with a bamboo stick. According to the publication, the man was also beaten on the soles of his feet at a bus terminal.
Officials explained the beating by the brutality of the alleged murder. Police officer D. P. Unadkat told the Times of India that law enforcement officers wanted to demonstrate a serious attitude toward crimes against women and deter others from committing such crimes.
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Reaction to law enforcement actions
Unadkat also told The Indian Express that after such actions, people are afraid of the police. At the same time, social media users’ reactions were divided: some approved of the beating, while others condemned the officers’ actions, stressing that the man has not yet been found guilty of the crime.
Publicly parading suspects and beatings by police, AFP notes, occur in India despite Supreme Court rulings prohibiting such treatment. Bhavnagar police chief Nitesh Pandey declined to comment on the incident.
