'Humanity Only For Stone Pelters?' Asks Gujarat Minister On Garba Flogging
NDTV
The police had flogged the minority community members after they allegedly hurled stones at garba dance participants in Kheda district earlier this week.
Amid a row over an incident in which some police personnel publicly flogged a few Muslim men accused of stone-pelting in Gujarat, state minister Harsh Sanghavi has asked whether humanity existed only for the stone-pelters and if there were no human rights for those hit by stones.
The police had flogged the minority community members after they allegedly hurled stones at garba dance participants in Kheda district earlier this week. Videos of some police personnel flogging them with a baton had surfaced on social media, after which a probe was ordered into the incident.
The police on Friday arrested five more persons for their alleged involvement in the stone-pelting incident, taking the number of those held so far in the case to 18. The case is now also being investigated from the angle of criminal conspiracy, a police official said.
Mr Sanghavi, while speaking at an event held here on Friday, said, "I do not understand whether humanity is only for those pelting stones? Aren't there any human rights for those children and women who are hit by stones on their heads? Shouldn't they have human rights?" The Minister of State for Home also asked the gathering if garba should not be performed by people at public places.
