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.
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.
"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.