PUCL demands judicial probe into Dabhel village violence

The People's Union for Civil Liberties today demanded an independent probe by a High Court judge into recent clashes between villagers and the local police in Dabhel village of Navsari district in Gujarat which left four policemen and two villagers injured.

Speaking at a press conference here today, PUCL general secretary Gautam Thaker said that the local police has been harassing locals after clashes took place on October 7.

"To find out the truth behind the clashes, we sent our team to Dabhel village and prepared a report. We learned that many innocent villagers are being held without any reason by the police after the clashes. We have sent our report to the National Human Rights Commission," Thaker said.
 

"In the coming days, we plan to meet the Gujarat Governor to seek his intervention. We will request him to persuade the government to set up a commission under a sitting High Court judge to find out the truth about what exactly happened and who was actually responsible for the clashes," he said.

On October 7, a Navsari police team raided Dabhel village which has a Muslim majority population, after they learned that some villagers were involved in cow slaughter.

Angered by the police raid, a mob of more than 200 locals allegedly attacked policemen, leaving four policemen injured. In their defence, the police fired two rounds which injured two villagers.

"After talking to locals and injured policemen during our visit, we learned that not all villagers were involved in the attack. It was the work of some anti-social elements, but the police is now harassing the whole village. Due to fear of being wrongly implicated, most people have left the village and not ready to return," Thaker said.

"When we visited Dabhel village recently, we saw more policemen there than villagers. The police has been arresting innocent people. Villagers reacted and attacked the police only after someone spread false rumours about deaths of two men due to police firing. We request the government not to consider the entire village as its enemy," Thaker said.