Ahmedabad: Some Muslim men arrested for allegedly throwing stones at a Navratri Garba event were tied to a pole and flogged with canes by police personnel in Gujarat's Kheda district, show videos viral on Twitter today. Crowds were seen cheering as officers watched plainclothes cops hit the men.
Local news outlet VTV Gujarati News also shared the video and said "10-11 heretics were brought to the village, where the police taught them a lesson in public" in Undhela village.
The men were asked to "apologise to the public", and the police inspector in charge of the area was present too, the report added.
NDTV could not independently verify the video. Police were not immediately available for comment on the flogging.
On Twitter, people in response to the video questioned the police's "kangaroo justice", while there were many defending the "quick fix".
News agency PTI had reported that a mob of around 150 people threw stones at a garba event on premises of a temple last night; 43 were named in the case.
According to the First Information Report, or FIR, members from the Muslim community in the village objected to garba being organised near a mosque, which is located across the temple.
"Police detained 13 persons after the FIR was registered at Matar police station," Deputy Superintendent of Police VR Bajpai had told PTI. Police were deployed in large number at the village following the incident.
"The village sarpanch (head) had organised garba at a temple. A mob from the Muslim community tried to stop it from taking place," Mr Bajpai told reporters.
Earlier, Kheda superintendent of police Rajesh Gadhiya had said a group of people led by two Muslim men entered the Navratri Garba venue and "started causing trouble".
The incident is one of many in which Muslim men are accused of disturbing the festivities. Hindu right-wing outfits such as the Bajrang Dal have warned them against it.
Five Muslim men were detained from a Garba pandal in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain, but police later said they had not committed any crime. The arrest was only preventive, an officer, adding that the men had argued with the organisers and the police.