The Gujarat High Court recently declared four Gujarat Police officers as having committed Contempt of Court for not following the DK Basu Guidelines established by the Apex Court. They were sentenced to serve 14 days of simple imprisonment. This decision was in response to their actions of publicly flogging Muslim men in Kheda district in October of the previous year.

The court has temporarily suspended the execution of the sentence for a period of three months. This suspension follows a request from the defense counsel of the accused, who wishes to file an appeal against the court's decision.

A bench consisting of Justice AS Supehia and Justice Gita Gopi expressed their discontent with the situation while issuing the orders for the police officers to serve simple imprisonment. In addition to the imprisonment, the court has imposed a fine of Rs. 2000 on each of the police officers. If they fail to pay the fine, they will have to serve an additional 3-day imprisonment.

Back on October 4, the High Court issued an order to formally charge the following individuals with contempt: Local Crime Branch Inspector AV. Parmar, Sub-Inspector D.B. Kumavat, Head Constable Kanaksingh Laxman Singh, and Constable Raju Rameshbhai Dabhi. Subsequently, on October 16, the victims declined to accept any monetary compensation offered by these four policemen.

In July of this year, the High Court had instructed the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Nadiad to examine the contents of the pen drives and other electronic evidence, including videos, pertaining to the incident.

The directive was issued in response to a petition filed by five members of an affected family who were seeking contempt charges to be brought against the accused police officers. In their contempt petition, they alleged that the five victims had been physically assaulted by the police officers from the Matar Police Station in the Kheda district the previous year. This alleged action was seen as a violation of the Apex Court's guidelines designed to prevent custodial torture, as established in the case of DK Basu vs. State of West Bengal.

The police action in question reportedly took place in the aftermath of a communal clash in Undhela village, located in Matar Taluka of Kheda district. It was alleged that during Navratri celebrations, some unidentified individuals had thrown stones at the crowd. As a result of this incident, at least 40 people were arrested by the police.

In a prior court hearing, the High Court had inquired of the state government whether any legal provisions allowed for the act of tying up an accused individual to a pole and subjecting them to physical assault in full public view. 

In January of this year, the Gujarat Government informed the High Court that it had identified five police officers, including a police inspector, as prima facie guilty in connection with the case involving the flogging incident.