Gujarat murder accused tied with ropes, flogged in public by police; SHO says ‘rare case’

Gujarat murder accused tied with ropes, flogged in public by police; SHO notes 'rare case' When you do this (flogging), miscreants remain scared of police, states Police Inspector D P Unadkat, SHO of Nilambaug police station.

Key points

• The petition was filed by Sufiyan Mansuri, Shanawaz Kureshi, Junaid Sindhi, Anas Kureshi and Sadeka Sindhi.
• As well as Bhavnagar SP Nitesh Pandey, the Indian Express attempted to reach out to Unadkat's superior officers, DySP RR Singhal of the City Division.
• The Gujarat High Court had in 2023 held four police personnel guilty of contempt of court in the same case, but the Supreme Court afterwards stayed the ruling.
• The flogging incident came a week after the Porbandar Police, on August 29, paraded two men.
• Lakhani was arrested on September 4 by the Bhavnagar police for the alleged murder of 40-year-old Kajal, with whom he lived on the street outside the bus stand.

Incident comes a week after two accused in a separate case were paraded by the police.

Meanwhile, a 20-year-old homeless man accused of murdering his woman partner in Gujarat's Bhavnagar was on Saturday allegedly flogged in public by police, hours after his arrest in the case.

Videos of the purported incident. It went viral on social media platforms, show police taking the accused Faizal alias Khatki Rafiq Lakhani, who was tied with ropes, around the GSRTC bus stand in Bhavnagar and holding him against their patrol vehicle, pillars and walls on the premises and hitting him with their batons during the reconstruction of the crime scene.

When asked regarding the videos of him and his team allegedly thrashing Faizal Lakhani in public, Police Inspector D P Unadkat, the SHO of Nilambaug police station, stated that the incident had taken place during reconstruction of the crime scene on Saturday (September 5). "We did it because this is a rare case, " he remarked.

"He is not a gang member as such, but he is in the habit of being a nuisance. There are plenty of others who engage in similar activities. When you do this (flogging), miscreants remain scared of the police. When they do smaller crimes, they are arrested and then published on bail and so there is a feeling that the police cannot do anything to them. When we do this, they fear the police, " Unadkat remarked.

After this purported flogging incident, Lakhani was produced before court where the Nilambaug police did not seek his remand. He was sent to judicial custody, remarked Unadkat.

As well as Bhavnagar SP Nitesh Pandey, the Indian Express attempted to reach out to Unadkat's superior officers, DySP RR Singhal of the City Division. Nevertheless, both officers remained unavailable for comment.

Speaking regarding Lakhani's criminal antecedents, Unadkat stated, "This is the first murder case against him. He has been booked in six earlier cases including abduction and assaulting police officers and loot, among others. Three of the cases are in Nilambaug police station while the other three are at Vartej police station."

Notably, the flogging incident came a week after the Porbandar Police, on August 29, paraded two men. This person were tied with ropes, through Visavada village and created them apologise to the residents. The two men, Khoda Sajan Keshwala and Nagajan Kala Odedara, were arrested by the Local Crime Branch (LCB) on the charge of attempting to murder an elderly musician who had been invited to play the shehnai (clarinet) at an interfaith function in the village.

DGP KLN Rao, in a letter dated May 12, had pointed out the law and regulations related to handcuffing of arrested persons, tying them with ropes, and parading them on the streets, and ordered that "these actions are not as per established processes and ordered they they must be stopped forthwith".

"The image of the Gujarat Police is tarnished since of actions such as handcuffing of the accused or tying them with ropes and publicly parading them and showing off. Such inhuman behaviour additionally overshadows the good work of the police and leaves a bad impression of the police on the public, " the letter, addressed to police officers in the state, stated. PUCL sends legal notice.

In practice, the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Gujarat, on Saturday sent a legal notice to Chief Secretary, Extra Chief Secretary (Home), Gujarat DGP, and Bhavnagar SP demanding action against Nilambaug police inspector Unadkat and other police personnel involved in the public parading and torture of the murder accused.

In practice, the notice, sent by PUCL (Gujarat) general secretary Mujahid Nafees through advocate Anand Yagnik, remarked: "The law provides for a full-fledged mechanism to ensure investigation and punishment to the guilty. Nevertheless, some police personnel are taking the law into their own hands and treating the force as an authoritarian institution. The police personnel flagrantly violating all protections given to the accused under the Constitution of India is a cause for shame and urgent action must be taken against them".

For context, the Gujarat High Court on August 14 orally informed the administration to transfer IPS officer Rajdeepsinh Nakum, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Surat, saying his continued presence in the city could undermine an inquiry into allegations that he and his team publicly beat and humiliated accused persons. The Division Bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice D N Ray was hearing suo motu PIL over videos allegedly showing handcuffed accused persons being paraded and assaulted by police with lathis.

In the first week of May 2026, five persons moved the Gujarat High Court seeking action against nine police officers in Vadodara for alleged custodial torture, parading them in public and thereby committing contempt of court by violating the Supreme Court's order. The petition was filed by Sufiyan Mansuri, Shanawaz Kureshi, Junaid Sindhi, Anas Kureshi and Sadeka Sindhi. This person had been arrested after communal disturbances in August 2025, allegedly after an incident of hurling eggs at a Ganesh procession during Navratri.

On May 8, 2026, the Gujarat High Court stayed the summons issued to six police authorities by a JMFC court in Matar, Kheda, over a October 4, 2022 incident in Undhela village where men from the Muslim community were allegedly tied to electric poles and flogged in public by police after an alleged stone pelting incident at a garba event during Navratri. The Gujarat High Court had in 2023 held four police personnel guilty of contempt of court in the same case, but the Supreme Court afterwards stayed the ruling.

For now, gujarat murder accused tied with ropes, flogged in public by police; SHO remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.