Cremation of Shwetang Patel held peacefully in Bapunagar

Ahmedabad

Following a historic evening hearing on a holiday by the Gujarat high court to issue security directives last night, the cremation of Shwetang Patel (32), a local youth of Patidar community who died allegedly in police custody following police action during the recent statewide violent reservation quota stir of Patidar Anamat Aandolan Samiti (PAAS) in Bapunagar area of the city, was held in Leelanagar crematorium today amid heavy security deployment including two companies of the army owing to the fears of re-spread of violence.

No curfew was imposed in the area.

The emotional funeral procession started from Matrushakti society residence of Shwetang in Bapunagar when his mother Prabhabhen also participated in the ritual of giving shoulder to the arthi (the bamboo made bed to carry the body) of his sole son. Normally a woman doesn’t perform this last rites ritual of the Hindus.

Later, in another unusual but emotional step Shwetang’s sister Palak performed other last rites and also gave mukhagni (the holy fire put in the mouth of the dead to begin the cremation) to his slain brother. Shwetang’s father, a former mill worker, is almost bed ridden with paralysis for quite sometime.

On his mother’s plea claiming police excess to be the reason behind her son’s death, the court had ordered a second autopsy of his body to ascertain it. The second post-mortem revealed that he died owing to shock and brain hemorrhage. The police has arrested him in the late night of August 25 when the violence first erupted.

Earlier, Para military forces including the Rapid Action Force were deployed in and around Bapunagar in large number to prevent any untoward event. ‘We had also deployed two companies of the army in Bapunagar and Vastral areas,’ police commissioner Shivanand Jha told UNI adding no curfew was however imposed.

The whole funeral procession route from Bapunagar to Leelanagar was virtually cordoned off by the para military force.

The Gujarat high court in an unprecedented move had held hearing last night on a holiday to issue directives for security arrangements for this funeral. The court has also appealed the people to maintain peace.

Meanwhile the crowd in the procession was of a much less strength than the earlier apprehension of over one lakh which might have re-triggered violence. The police and the state authority has taken a sigh of relief with the peaceful passage of the last rites.

Around 10 people died in the violence that erupted in the night of August 25 following the brief detention of PAAS leaders when they were holding a dharna in the GMDC ground of the city after a massive rally during the day demanding OBC quota for the politically strong Patel (Patidar) community in the state for reservation benefits. Bapunagar was also one of the nine localities of Ahmedabad where curfew was imposed after the outset of the violence. The curfew orders from Bapunagar were revoked yesterday.

After the stricture of the high court bench led by acting chief justice Jayant Patel last night the police inspector of Bapunagar P D Parmar was transferred to Rajkot and the second P I R R Vasava was relieved for Vadodara.

PASS leader Hardik Patel went to New Delhi this morning to meet the leaders of Gurjjar and Jat communities and various outfits to garner support for his quota agitation. The outfit has announced to start the second round of the stir from Surat tomorrow.

PTI report:

Amid tight security, the funeral of a 32-year-old man from Patel community, who allegedly died in custody after being caught by police during the quota violence, was held here today.

The funeral procession of Swetang Patel started from his house in Matrushakti Society of Bapunagar area at around 8.25 AM. Initially, around 300 locals and relatives joined the procession, including Swetang’s mother Prabhaben and his sister Palak.

Before the funeral procession started, former state Home Minister and senior BJP leader Gordhan Jhadafia met Swetang’s family at his house and conveyed condolences. Local MLA Vallabh Kakadia along with some leaders and corporators also remained present during the procession.

To avoid any untoward situation, around 600 personnel from local police, State Reserve Police (SRP), Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been stationed along the 1-km route from Swetang’s house till the crematorium in Lila Nagar area, Bapunagar police inspector K D Nakum said.

Since early morning, senior police officers including Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP) Manoj Shashidharan, Deputy CP Shweta Shrimali and Assistant CP K D Pandya along with their staff arrived at Bapunagar and supervised the arrangements.

Hardik Patel, the convener of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, who earlier said that he will remain present during the last rites of Swetang, did not turn up today as he flew to Delhi this morning.

As the procession went ahead, a large number of locals living near the route came on the road to pay homage to the deceased. Some of them also joined the procession, taking the total number to more than 1,000.

Since the route passes from NH-8 at Thakkarnagar area, police stopped the traffic for around 20 minutes.

“The procession reached peacefully at the crematorium without any untoward incident. We have not imposed any curfew in that area. Locals have also cooperated and refrained from shouting any inflammatory slogans,” said Nakum.

Since Swetang was the only son of Prabhaben, his sister Palak performed the last rites by lighting his funeral pyre.

Talking to mediapersons after the rituals, Prabhaben vowed to fight for justice.

“I demand suspension of all the responsible police officers. They must be given life imprisonment for killing my son. I will fight till the end to get justice,” she said.

When asked if the family received any assurance from the government, Palak said no one has approached them yet.

“We are not given any assurance of any kind from the government yet. No one from the government has approached us,” she said.

Swetang was allegedly taken away forcibly by police on August 25 during violence in Patel community’s agitation demanding reservation under OBC category.

A plea was moved by Prabhaben Patel in the Gujarat High Court which said he was allegedly beaten by the police and ultimately he succumbed to the injuries.

After the postmortem, the High Court had ordered a second autopsy of the body which stated that he had died due to severe head injury.

Observing that prima facie it was a case of homicide, the HC had on Friday directed the administration to file an FIR and also ordered a CID probe into Swetang’s death.

Last night, the High Court allowed the administration to take all necessary steps, including imposition of curfew, to maintain law and order during today’s funeral procession, as the city police feared violence.

However, police did not clamp curfew as the funeral procession went off without any untoward incident.