A 35-year-old Ambedkarite youth had died under judicial custody in Parbhani on December 15. Hours after his death, the forensic department has confirmed that the law student died due to “shock following multiple injuries.”
The youth, identified as Somnath Vyankat Suryawanshi, was arrested along with several others for their alleged involvement in the violent protests that rocked the city in central Maharashtra over vandalizing of a replica of the Constitution. He was allegedly tortured when he was under police custody.
It has been stated that a glass-enclosed replica of the Constitution near Dr B R Ambedkar's statue outside the Parbhani railway station was found damaged on the evening of December 10. A bandh was called on December 11. The shutdown took a violent turn when protesters indulged in arson and vandalised the district collector's office.
Opposition leaders, including Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, condemned the "insult" to the Constitution, while Congress in Maharashtra asked the government not to commit "atrocities" on Dr B R Ambedkar's followers in the aftermath of the violence.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the "mentally unstable" man who allegedly damaged the replica was arrested immediately, yet violence took place which was unacceptable.
The suspect in the desecration of the Constitution has been identified as 45-year-old Sopan Pawar
Suryawanshi was among the 50-odd youths arrested for indulging in vandalism. He was living in a rented room at Shankarnagar in the Mondha area.
Police said that he complained of chest pain on the day he died following which Parbhani district jail authorities shifted him to the district civil hospital where the doctors declared him dead.
Suryawanshi’s death had sparked agitation across Parbhani, with many anti-caste groups calling for a state bandh. Political and social activists demanded an in-camera post-mortem outside Parbhani.
Before being sent to judicial custody on December 14, Suryawanshi had spent three days in police custody. His lawyer, Pawan Jondhale, had reportedly argued before the magistrate’s court that police atrocities had occurred and that most of those arrested had suffered both internal and external injuries.