Bombay High Court's big decision in the case of suspicious custodial death of Dalit law student Somnath Suryavanshi, order to investigate by forming SIT.
Aurangabad – The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the Director General of Police (DGP) of Maharashtra to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) within a week to investigate the suspicious custodial death of Dalit law student Somnath Suryavanshi. This order was passed orally by a division bench of Justice Vibha Kankanwadi and Justice Sanjay A. Deshmukh.
The court clarified that the inquiry committee appointed earlier by the state government will be dissolved and all documents related to it will now be handed over to the new SIT.
The bench said, “If the petitioner Vijayabai Venkata Suryavanshi has any objection to the members of the SIT, she can register it before the court.”
Petitioner’s allegation
This interim order was given on the petition of Somnath’s 61-year-old mother Vijayabai Suryavanshi. He alleged that his son was illegally detained and brutally tortured in police custody during a peaceful demonstration in Parbhani in December 2024. Later, the authorities tried to hush up the case by calling his death a heart attack.
Somnath, a final year law student from Latur and belonging to the Scheduled Caste community, was arrested while recording on camera a protest against the desecration of the replica of the Constitution near the statue of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar in Parbhani.
FIR and Supreme Court proceedings
On July 4, 2025, the High Court directed the Parbhani police to register an FIR within a week. The court had said that prima facie evidence of custodial torture and violation of fundamental rights exists. After this, on July 30, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition of the Maharashtra government, which challenged the High Court’s order to register an FIR.
Custodial torture and death
The petition said Somnath was illegally arrested despite peacefully recording the protest while carrying a copy of the Constitution. After being produced before a magistrate on December 12, 2024, he was handed over two days of police custody during which he was brutally beaten.
His condition deteriorated further when he was produced before a magistrate again on December 14. He was then sent to judicial custody, where he suddenly died at 6:49 am on December 15. While the police attributed the cause of death to chest pain, the postmortem report of a seven-member medical team cited 24 serious injuries and stated the cause of death as “shock resulting from multiple injuries”.
Alleged bargaining attempt
The petitioner alleged that upon reaching Parbhani, he was taken to the IG by police officer Ashok Ghorband, where he was told that other sons of the family could be given police jobs and was asked not to file a complaint in exchange for Rs 50 lakh. Also, he was advised to perform the last rites in Latur. But he turned down these proposals and demanded that his son’s death be registered as a custodial murder.
Court’s strict comment
The High Court said that the judicial inquiry conducted under Section 196 of the Indian Civil Security Code (BNSS) found serious human rights violations and the death was directly linked to custodial beating.
The court reprimanded the state government and said, “When the constitutional rights of a person are violated while in custody, this court cannot remain a silent spectator.”
The bench also questioned the delay of the CID and the credibility of the internal investigation. The court said that the CID tried to get a second opinion from JJ Hospital, Mumbai by bypassing the doctors who conducted the postmortem, which casts doubt on the investigation.
Order of SIT inquiry
The court directed to register an FIR on the basis of the petitioner’s complaint lodged on December 18, 2024 and get the case investigated by a Deputy Superintendent of Police under the SIT. Also, CID officer D.B. The earlier order restraining Talpe from filing the final report has now been revoked.
Welcoming the decision, advocate Hitendra Gandhi, appearing for the petitioner, said, “The order to form an SIT in the case of Somnath Suryavanshi’s death is a big step towards justice. We hope that the SIT will conduct an impartial investigation and bring out the truth and the culprits will be punished.”
Rajan Chaudhary
Courtesy : Hindi News