New Delhi: A video purportedly from Gujarat’s Junagadh city surfaced Saturday on social media showing seven men being flogged with belts by two men outside what appears to be a dargah.
While the authenticity of the video could not be verified, several social media handles, including that of journalists, have claimed that the video is from Gujarat’s Junagadh and that the duo beating the men standing in a line are from the police department.
The men who are at the receiving end are said to be among those who attacked police Friday night in Junagadh, where one civilian died after unidentified men hurled stones and torched a vehicle to oppose the local civic body’s plan to raze a dargah for clearing “encroachment”.
ThePrint reached out to Junagadh police and the superintendent of police over calls and mail for a comment but there was no response.
While confirming the death of the civilian, the police said that at least five police personnel were injured after a group of people went on a rampage Friday night.
“On June 14, the Junagadh Municipal Corporation issued a notice to a mosque near Majevadi Darwaja to produce documents regarding the ownership of land. Agitated over the notice, around 500-600 people gathered near the religious structure and blocked roads on Friday night,” Superintendent of Police Ravi Teja Vasamsetty told a press conference.
The dargah representatives were given five days to respond to the notice, the Junagadh SP said.
A total of 174 people have been rounded up, he said, adding that additional forces have been deployed throughout Junagadh.
“A civilian died and it appears that stone-pelting was the cause of his death. But we are waiting for a post-mortem report to know the exact cause. Police teams rounded up 174 people in a combing operation,” the SP added.
(Edited by Tony Rai)