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Editor: Nagaraja.M.R.. Vol.15..Issue.38........21 / 09 / 2019

Surat Advocate Alleges Harassment for Taking up Cases Against

Police Officials
Human rights lawyer Bilal Kagzi says attempts are being made to silence him for
exposing the police's rampant abuse of the rule of law.

By Baljeet Kaur

When one speaks to Bilal Kagzi, a Surat-based human rights lawyer, it quickly
becomes clear that he is an ardent practitioner of the law. In the profession for
the last 12 years, Kagzi refers to several sections of the Code of Criminal
Procedure (CrPC) and case laws to illustrate the procedure the police is
required to follow when registering an FIR and initiating investigations and
arrests.

According to Kagzi, the police in the area has been abusing the rule of law
rampantly, leading to sufferings of poor and marginalised. He claims that those
who stand up for the victims are also being intimidated and harassed to keep
them quiet. He himself has been facing intimidation for taking up cases against
police officials, and attempts are being made to silence him.

At present, the advocate is representing several who have complained against

officials at the Kosamba police station over the alleged misuse of power and
corruption in an assault case involving a right to information activist. Kagzi has
in the past represented members of marginalised communities and regularly
supports victims of atrocities and those who have struggled while seeking
justice under the SC/ST Atrocities Act.

In another case, he is representing a woman at the Police Complaints Authority

regarding the implication of her son in a false case. He is also representing
another client at the Gujarat State Human Rights Commission over illegal
detention and custodial torture by the police.

The most recent incident of his false implication in a case occurred a month ago.
Incidentally, he was not even present at the place and time of the incident.

On the morning of August 12, Kagzi was spending time with his family after
having returned from morning namaz. It was the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha. He
was home till 8:40 am, after which he went to visit his aunt who lives nearby.
Later that day, he came to know about a scuffle in his colony triggered by an
accident between two vehicles. It was well-known that the parties involved had
a past feud, because of which the present incident escalated.

When that afternoon Kagzi contacted a policeman regarding a case he was

working on, he was shocked to learn that he was going to be named in an FIR
related to this incident. For the next several hours, he tried gathering
information about the incident and the police action on the same. At around
9:30 pm – the FIR in the case was registered at 8:30 pm, 12 hours after the
incident occurred – he visited Kosamba police station to inquire about the case
but was told that there were orders not to reveal names of the accused and the
charges filed.

“An FIR is a public document and various court rulings have adjudged that a
copy has to be given to the accused, so I asked one of my junior lawyers to visit
the police station and collect the FIR,” he said.

An FIR – being a public document – is also supposed to be uploaded online

within 24 hours of filing. But this particular one was uploaded much later. As
per the document, Kagzi is ‘accused no. 3,’ charged under various sections of the
IPC, including attempt to murder.

This, however, is not the first time Kagzi has faced intimidation for performing
his duties as a lawyer. Last year, he was threatened by a local goon with death
threats, but police paid no attention to his pleas.

Earlier, in 2012, he and his clients were illegally detained and beaten up at the
same Kosamba police station. They had come to register a complaint against a
local goon for destroying a road of the village and blocking the way. Advocate
Kagzi was reportedly threatened that he would be killed in a police encounter
for “worrying too much about human rights”.

Talking about his recent cases, he shared, “There is a lot of abuse of power by
the police. On one hand, they will not take action against the powerful even
when they give death threats to others, and on the other, incidents involving
small fights among poor will lead to arrests without bail and even torture in
custody.”

When the land of Chimnipatal village in Surat’s Umarpada – reserved as grazing

ground for the Adivasi community – was given to a private company called
GETCO in March, the protesting people were beaten up and arrested. In total, 32
were charged under two FIRs. Based on them, 25 were arrested, including some
women.

“Article 20 of the constitution clearly states that two FIRs can’t be registered on
the same facts against the same accused as it will lead to double jeopardy,”
Kagzi said. He represented some of those who were arrested based on the two
FIRs.

He describes another incident – of a fight between two groups – which was

investigated by the Kamraj police station in June 2018. In the case, 33 persons
including ten women were charged. “Few men were caught and detained at the
police station. All of their relatives and friends who were visiting the police
station to enquire were also being detained and named in this FIR. Later, the
women who visited to look for their husbands, brothers and sons were also
booked in the same case.”

In this case, many were kept in illegal detention for 19 hours and beaten up in
custody. During their appearance before the magistrate, they complained
against the police officials. Later, a court enquiry found the allegations of
torture in custody as legitimate and issued a notice against the involved
policemen.

Kagzi further narrates, “The ordeal of these people did not end there. As soon as
they were released on bail by the court, police detained them under Section 151
of the CrPC – preventive detention. They were released a day later and then put
on the habitual offenders list.”
Coming back to the August incident, as soon as he got hold of the FIR, he
collected evidence, including CCTV footage, and approached the police station.
He submitted in writing to the superintendent of police and the investigation
officer of the case, but did not get any response. “The police should have
recorded my statement and taken cognisance of the evidence I presented to
defend myself. After a fair investigation, when they would not have found any
evidence against me, they should have filed a ‘B’ summary report regarding the
wrongful information”. But nothing of this sort happened

CCTV footage shows Bilal Kagzi was at his home at the time of the incident.

Then, on August 19, Kagzi filed for an anticipatory bail in the Gujarat high court.
He argued that the case had been filed over personal vengeance. An official even
confided in Kagzi that police constables had, in fact, informed in their statement
that he was not involved in the incident, but these statemen7ts were
suppressed by police officers. The court then granted him anticipatory bail on
August 27.

He has filed another mandamus writ petition in the Gujarat high court seeking
directions for the police to conduct a fair and independent investigation. While
this petition is pending, the police have still not taken the evidence he
presented into consideration. “After my written submission, the police should
have – as per law – collected CCTV footage in the presence of two panchas.
Though I have a copy of the footage, the procedure requires the collection of the
original footage by the police, which they are deliberately delaying. After 30
days, the original footage will get overwritten and will be lost,” Kagzi said.

Kagzi is not alone. Lawyers and human rights defenders like him are fighting
against intimidation and harassment to ensure justice for the oppressed.

Editorial : Put Police behind bars

- An Appeal to Honorable Chief Justice of India

In the above case of hum rights advocate / lawyer , police & district
administration are hand in glove with criminals. Immediately order for
 an impartial inquiry into the matter , protect the advocate and legally
prosecute responsible public servants.

Jai Hind. Vande Mataram.

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