Maharashtra: Congress cites magisterial probe in Dalit youth's custodial death, demands murder case against cops

After a magisterial probe blamed police assault for the death of Dalit protester Somnath Suryavanshi Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal has demanded slapping of murder charges on officials and questioned whom Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was protecting reported news agency PTIHe accused Fadnavis who heads the Home Ministry of misleading people through his statement during the winter session of the state legislature last year by attributing Suryavanshis death to asthmaThe Congress leader also demanded the dismissal of Parbhani Police personnel responsible for Suryavanshis deathSuryavanshi 35 died at a staterun hospital in Parbhani on December 15 while in judicial custody days after he was arrested in connection with violence in the city over the desecration of a glassencased replica of the Constitution Police had said Suryavanshi died after taking ill in judicial custody reported PTISapkal raised the demand for invocation of charges of murder after the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission MSHRC said the perusal of the report of the magisterial inquiry shows the judicial magistrate has concluded that Suryavanshi was assaulted at Nava Mondha Police Station in Parbhani reported PTISomnath Suryavanshi an educated youth with Ambedkarite ideology from Parbhani died due to police brutality but the case was recorded as a natural death to suppress the matterThe postmortem report confirmed that he died due to police assault while in custody however the government didnt take it seriously Now even the magisterial inquiry has revealed that Suryavanshis death was caused by police brutality the Congress leader said in a statement reported PTIWill the Fadnavis government finally wake up he askedSapkal said the Parbhani case is extremely serious and a blot on humanityHe alleged the police had failed to properly handle the desecration of the Constitutions replica in Parbhani and instead brutally batoncharged peaceful protesters severely assaulting many people and imprisoning several othersSuryavanshi was arrested brutally beaten and he eventually died due to the assault However the government tried to suppress the case Sapkal alleged reported PTIThe Congress leader demanded an investigation to find out who gave orders for combing operations and baton charge in Parbhani Was it the ministry or the office of the Director General of Police he asked reported PTIAlleging that Fadnavis has failed to handle the Parbhani case Sapkal said a Dalit youth was killed due to police brutality The government however is not taking it seriously which shows the BJPled governments antiDalit mindsetSuryavanshis death caused a political storm prompting Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to visit his family members in Parbhani last yearGandhi claimed Suryavanshi was killed because he was a Dalit who was protecting the Constitution in the wake of the desecration of its replicaSapkal said the Congress will continue to pursue this case until Suryavanshis family gets justiceThe MSHRC is hearing complaints concerning Suryavanshis deathDuring the hearing on March 20 the MSHRC said it had received a box containing the report of the magisterial inquiry into the custodial death of Suryavanshi The report has three volumes running into 451 pages reported PTIiquestPerusal of the report of the magisterial inquiry shows that the judicial magistrate has concluded that Suryavanshi was assaulted at Nava Mondha Police Station in Parbhaniiquest the Commission notedAccording to the magistrate Parbhani police officials named in his report are responsible for the custodial death of Suryavanshi it addedThe Commission then issued notices to the chief secretary additional chief secretary home department additional director general of police CID crimes and the deputy superintendent of police CID Parbhani seeking their repliesSapkal faced flak for comparing Fadnavis to Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Amid calls for action against him he claimed he was not comparing the individuals but their governanceWith inputs from PTI