MUMBAI: In the judicial magistrate first class inquiry report, it was revealed that Somanath Suryawanshi was killed in police custody due to police brutality, not due to the heart attack as earlier claimed by the police.
The judicial magistrate report pinned the blame on the police and asked the state government to take stern action against 70 police who were responsible for Mr Suryawanshi’s custodial death.
The Human Rights Commission appointed judicial commission headed by judicial magistrate CU Telgaonkar and submitted the 451-page confidential report to the Human Rights Commission.
Taking cognizance of this report, the Human Rights Commission has issued the notices to the State Chief Secretary and Home Secretary, additional director general of police (Crime) along with the Parbhani police commissioner asking for their explanation for the custodial death of Mr Suryawanshi.
Somanath Suryawanshi was arrested by Parbhani police in connection with his participation in a protest against vandalizing the replica of the Indian constitution. After the arrest, Mr Suryawanshi died in police custody on December 15 and the police claimed that he died due to a heart attack.
After the outrage over the custodial death of Mr Suryawanshi and Leader of Opposition and Congress Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi’s visit to his residence, the Maharashtra government ensured a fair probe to find the truth and facts.
Besides, in the post-mortem report, it was also mentioned that Suryawanshi was badly beaten and there were signs of bruises and crashes over his body as well. However, the state government refused to initiate action against the culprits.
Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal said that the magistrate report revealed that Somanath Suryawanshi died due to police brutality, but the irony is that the police recorded the case as a natural death to suppress the matter.
“We hope Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and concerned people read this shocking report and take cognisance of it by dismissing the responsible police officers. Besides, cases should be filed against those police officers with murder charges,” asked Sapkal.
He said, the Parbhani case is extremely serious and a blot on humanity.
“The police failed to handle this case properly when the desecration of the Constitution’s replica in Parbhani was reported. While a peaceful protest was ongoing in the city, the police resorted to brutal baton charges, severely assaulting many people and imprisoning several others," Sapkal said.
"Somnath Suryawanshi was also arrested at this time; he was brutally beaten and eventually died due to the assault. However, the government tried to suppress the case. During the Nagpur winter session, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis misled the public by falsely claiming that Suryawanshi died due to asthma,” Sapkal alleged.
