Parbhani custodial death: State to wait for judicial panel report after discrepancy in autopsy, viscera report

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday said that it would not take immediate action based on the magisterial inquiry report which concluded that the death of law student Somnath Suryavanshi in Parbhani in December while in judicial custody was due to physical abuse by police officers.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said in the Maharashtra assembly on Tuesday that the government will wait for the judicial commission’s report and take action based on its findings, as there is a discrepancy between the findings of the postmortem report, on which the magisterial inquiry report is based, and the viscera report. He added that the government will book the police officers for murder if they are found guilty.

A viscera report is a medical examination of a deceased person’s internal organs, bodily fluids, and tissues. It’s performed to determine the cause of death.

Suryavanshi, 35, died at a state-run hospital in Parbhani on December 15 while in judicial custody, three days after he was arrested in connection with violence in the city over the desecration of a replica of the Constitution. The police had said back then that Suryavanshi died after falling ill.

However, an inquiry by Parbhani judicial magistrate CU Telgaonkar later found the police responsible for the death. After Suryavanshi’s custodial death erupted into a major political controversy, the state government appointed a one-member judicial commission comprising retired judge VL Achalia to investigate the death.

“The findings of the postmortem report and the viscera report, which is considered as the final report, are different,” said Fadnavis. “All the reports (magisterial inquiry) that have come in the past were based on the findings of the postmortem. We have formed a justice Achalia committee. If the police are found responsible for Somnath Suryavanshi’s death in the report, then we will keep the findings of viscera report aside and take action against the police,” he added, assuring the lower house that justice will be served.

Fadnavis declared that the police officers and personnel involved in the death would face murder charges if the Achalia commission found them guilty of beating Suryawanshi to death. The state government has already suspended a police inspector and four other personnel in connection with the case.

The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission has taken cognisance of Suryavanshi’s custodial death. After receiving the magisterial inquiry report, it issued notices to the chief secretary and additional chief secretary of the state home department, the additional director general of police of the Criminal Investigation Department, and the deputy superintendent of police in Parbhani, seeking their response to the report.

“Perusal of the report of the magisterial inquiry shows that the judicial magistrate has concluded that Suryawanshi was assaulted at Nava Mondha Police Station in Parbhani,” the MSHRC noted. According to the magistrate, Parbhani police officials named in his report are responsible for the custodial death of Suryavanshi, it added.