give proper treatment" to a 25-year old Christian, whose leg is paralyzed after alleged police brutality, in a case that has come to symbolize the persecution of religious minorities, officials confirmed Wednesday, July 6.
The Court was to pass further instructions to the hospital on Thursday July 7, in reply to repeated petitions from the father of the abused Christian, Mr. Amit Babubhai Dhabi, a 3-wheeler taxi driver and member of a local Methodist church, the BosNewsLife New Delhi Bureau learned.
In a widely published incident, on April 28, the Police Inspector and three constables of the Bapu Nagar Police Station in the state capital Ahmedabad arrested Amit without a warrant and reportedly beat him up.
Advocacy groups say police kept him in custody for four days without registering the arrest or producing him before a magistrate as required by Indian law. Police were apparently informed by an unknown person that Amit, who did not, had a criminal record, was in possession of weapons.
JUDGE DEMANDS TREATMENT
"Justice Jayant Patel of the High Court" has "ordered the Superintendent of the Civil Hospital at Meghani Nagar in Ahmedabad to ensure that Amit is given all necessary treatments until further orders," said Samson Christian, the National Executive Member and Joint Secretary of the influential advocacy group All India Christian Council (AICC).
"Due to pressure of the Police Department and local politicians, Amit was prematurely discharged by the civil hospital on June 27 while he was still recovering from his injuries," he told BosNewsLife in New Delhi on Wednesday July 7. "He chose to remain in the hospital without any treatment. But, the following day, doctors of the hospital forcibly pushed him out of his bed number 30 in the Orthopaedic ward," Christian said.
He said Amit remained outside the ward for three days before the latest High Court order. Amit had earlier been discharged by another hospital, Vadilal Sarabhai Hospital in central Ahmedabad, on May 9, before the completion of the treatment.
RE-ADMITTED IN HOSPITAL
Amit was re-admitted in the hospital after a complaint was lodged to the Superintendent of police by his father and he was shifted to the Civil Hospital on May 25. His right leg has so far been in a state of paralysis, church sources say. The treatment for the ailment reportedly requires daily medicines, injections and electric shocks with physiotherapy.
The High Court has demanded from the Director General of Police of Gujarat to explain why he apparently objects to an independent inquiry into the torture allegations. The court also directed the Police Commissioner of Ahmedabad and the Superintendent of the Civil Hospital» to ensure that no police officer," other than authorized investigators, are «allowed to see the victim while under treatment."
Amid pressure from church groups, the Indian National Human Rights Commission had also ordered the Police Commissioner of Ahmedabad on June 16 to submit a report on action within six weeks.
POLICE PRESSURE
Attorney R.D. Raval of the Gujarat High Court alleged on June 29 that the state "police in general and the accused officials in particular had been pressurizing Amit to settle the matter outside" the court.
"Even Mr. R. V. Puwar, Assistant Commissioner of Police of Ahmedabad who is the investigation officer of the case, is acting hand in glove with the accused police personnel and not doing proper investigation," he said in a petition obtained by the BosNewsLife New Delhi Bureau.
The petition alleges that while recording the statement, the investigation officer did not write what Amit said. By "Asking Amit to confidentially settle the matter with the police officers out of the court", officer "gave a welded threat by saying that he should remember that even after the High Court case was over he and his family had to stay in the city of Ahmedabad only," Puwar added.
HINDU NATIONALISTS
Gujarat state is ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party under the leadership of Narendra Modi, who human rights groups say is infamous for its anti-religious minority bias. In 2002, over 2,000 Muslims were reportedly killed by Hindu fundamentalists, allegedly with the connivance of the Gujarat police department.
The developments in Gujarat are closely monitored in the tense state of Orissa, where on Monday, July 11, the High Court is scheduled to look into a complaint filed by native missionary Kiran Kumar over two days of alleged police involvement in "severe custodial torture."
On February 27, several Hindu militants reportedly mistreated the missionary at night before handing him over to local police. Christians are concerned about what they see as growing Hindu violence against them. They were also closely monitoring nation wide Hindu protests following an attack by six militants Tuesday, July 5, on a controversial Hindu shrine in the city of Ayodhya. One attacker blew himself up while the others were killed in a near two hour gun-battle with Indian security forces. (Satya Sundar Mishra, BosNewsLife India Reporter in Orissa contributed to this story).
