• Amnesty International criticises flogging of Muslim men by police in India’s Gujarat state.
• Rights group says incident shows “utter disrespect towards the law”.
• Incident took place in Udhela village of Gujarat’s Kheda district, which is one of India’s most polarised states.

Amnesty International has described the flogging of Muslim men by police in the western Indian state of Gujarat as a “serious human rights violation” that demonstrates “utter disrespect for the law.”

A video of the incident, which occurred on Tuesday in Gujarat’s Kheda district’s Udhela village, quickly went viral on social media. It showed several Muslim men being tied to a pole and beaten with a stick by police officers dressed in civilian clothing, while a crowd of women and children cheered.

The men, accused of throwing stones at a Hindu religious event, were flogged and then bundled into a police van after being told to apologise to the crowd.

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“The Gujarat police’s use of striking devices such as lathis [sticks] to beat Muslim men tied to a pole by the police themselves is a serious human rights violation and demonstrates their utter disregard for the rule of law,” Amnesty International said in a tweet on Wednesday.

“We remind the Gujarat Police that, even when using less lethal weapons, punishment is never a legitimate goal for a law enforcement action.” It blatantly ignored the guiding principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, and accountability in this case.”

Gujarat is one of India’s most polarised states, with religious riots in 2002 killing more than 2,000 people, most of whom were Muslims, according to some sources.

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