Ahmedabad: A Muslim man accused of fatally assaulting his live-in partner was flogged in public by police personnel in Gujarat at the same spot while reconstructing the crime scene on Saturday, September 5.
A police inspector defended the action, claiming they had to “go the extra mile”, treating the incident as a “rarest of rare case”, as it dented their reputation and eroded public faith in the force.
A video of the accused, identified as Faizal, alias Khatki Rafiq Lakhani, tied with ropes and dragged around while being hit with a baton on Saturday, was shared widely on social media platforms.
Inspector DP Unadkat from the Neelam Bagh police station said the clip of Lakhani violently assaulting the woman in full public view severely tarnished the image of the police, leading people to say that they had lost faith in the force.
“The general public feels that law and order have collapsed. Thugs are killing women and girls, while the police remain helpless, and the public can only watch. In such extreme cases, it becomes essential to send a strong message to criminals,” he said.
The flogging was necessary to address the “disrepute” the police had suffered, the official said. Flogging is illegal in India and can be treated as illegal custodial torture and a violation of fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Victim Kajal Baraiya and Lakhani had been living together on a footpath for nearly seven years. The accused has a history of criminal cases against him, including charges of robbery and other serious offences.
Upon his release from jail, he recently found that his partner was in a relationship with his acquaintance Ravi, which led to a confrontation on Thursday, September 3. A video of the incident shows the accused kicking the woman on the ground, while people looked on without intervening.
Kajal was admitted to the government-run Sir T Hospital in the city, where she succumbed to her injuries during treatment. The accused was held on Friday for murder.
In a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) in the Gujarat High Court on some accused persons being beaten in public by a police officer in Surat, the amicus curiae submitted that the state home department had issued a circular on May 7, restricting such conduct.
Actions such as forcing the accused to perform sit-ups or crawl on their knees in public, kicking or beating them with a stick, would invite strict disciplinary action, it said.
“Any officer or employee found engaging in such conduct will face strict disciplinary action, and the senior officers of the respective area will be held accountable,” the circular said.
Flogging in Gujarat is, however, still a practice continued by the police. In May 2026, a video had gone viral showing an accused man tied to the bonnet of a police vehicle and police officials beating him with lathis. He was accused of cow slaughter.
In 2022, when a similar incident of two Muslims tied to a pole and flogged by police officers was circulating, Amnesty International had called it a grave human rights violation. “It shows their (police) disrespect towards the rule of law. We remind the Gujarat Police that punishment is never a legitimate objective for a law enforcement action, even if using less lethal weapons,” Amnesty had said at the time.
