Supreme Court Raps MP Govt for Shielding Police in Custodial Death of Pardhi Youth

Mangalore: On Tuesday, April 29, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the Madhya Pradesh government for protecting policemen involved in the killing of Deva Pardhi, a 24-year-old man from the Denotified Pardhi tribe. Despite clear evidence from a judicial magistrate’s inquiry and medical reports confirming violence as the cause of death, the policemen responsible for Deva’s brutal killing by Guna police have not been arrested, even 10 months later.

A division bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, hearing a petition filed by Deva’s mother, Hansurabai, called the state’s behaviour “ridiculous” and “inhuman”.

“It is ridiculous, an inhuman thing. It takes you 10 months to lay hands on your own officers,” Justice Sandeep Mehta remarked as additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati informed the court that the two officers involved had been “shifted to line duty.”

 Justice Mehta further sarcastically said, “Oh, that is a great response to a case of custodial death! What better example can we have of favouritism… of shielding your own officers?”

“Sad state of affairs in this country that the vice of custodial violence continues unabated despite repeated judgments by this court and the offenders roam free. Horrendous! And you try to eliminate the sole witness, that’s the best way to get away with the crime,” Justice Mehta said.

Custodial torture and a death

On July 13 last year, Deva was to marry his childhood sweetheart, Nikita, when he was taken from his home during a pre-marriage ritual. When Deva’s uncle, Gangaram, attempted to intervene, he was also detained and taken to the nearby Jhagar police chowki. Deva was later killed in police custody, with Gangaram as the sole witness to the crime.

The Wire reported on the incident after travelling to Guna last year. In addition to Deva’s death and Gangaram’s ongoing torture in custody, the police are accused of beating a six-year-old child and raping a female guest attending Deva’s wedding.

Deva and Gangaram were briefly held at the Jhagar police chowki, with officers from three chowkis – Jhagar, Myana, and Ruthiyai – involved in the operation. The two were severely beaten before being transferred to the Myana police chowki, approximately 40 kilometres away. The family alleges the police took them to an abandoned, non-functional police chowki rather than an operational one.

Also read: Maharashtra's Custodial Death Compensation Policy Risks Normalising Rather Than Preventing Them

At Myana police chowki, Deva and Gangaram were tied up, hung from the ceiling, their faces covered with black cloths, and were mercilessly beaten. The police allegedly threw hot water on their faces and continued the assault. Gangaram’s wife, Shalini, had told The Wire that iron rods were inserted into their anuses, and a liquid, suspected to be petrol, was poured on them. All these allegations are a part of the petition filed before the Supreme Court.

‘Criminal tribes’

Following the incident, this reporter met deputy superintendent of police (DySP) Yuvraj Singh Chouhan, who was tasked with investigating the allegations against his subordinate officers. 

Chouhan openly expressed bias against the Pardhi community, repeatedly referring to them as “criminal tribes.” He claimed the police had initially planned to kill Deva and Gangaram in a staged “encounter” but hesitated due to the complications of the atrocity law, given their reserved caste status. This conversation was audio-recorded.

The family’s journey to the Supreme Court has been fraught with challenges, with police allegedly pressuring the family and threatening Gangaram of dire consequences in jail. Despite this, Hansurabai has remained determined to pursue justice. 

Muskaan, a non-governmental organisation that works closely with children and youth of the Pardhi community in the state, has been supporting the family since the incident. Another Bhopal-based Criminal Justice and Police Accountability (CPA) Project has been aiding the legal fight in the case.

In the last interview, Hansurabai had told The Wire that she has “nothing more to lose”. After Deva’s custodial murder, her other son, Sindvaj, depressed by the police’s attitude and certain that the men responsible for killing his brother would never be punished, had hung himself. 

“All the male members of my family (her husband was also brutalised by the police many years ago) are dead. Now I want to continue this fight for other children of the community,” Hansurabai had told The Wire. 

‘Safer in custody’

Gangaram, detained alongside Deva in July last year, has been booked in multiple cases. It is a very common practice seen against the Pardhi community where once they are arrested, they are booked in multiple cases, practically making their release impossible. Each time the courts granted Gangaram bail, the police detained him in another case. All the cases against him are of theft or dacoity.

Gangaram in police custody. Photo: By arrangement

Hansurabai’s lawyer, Payoshi Roy, highlighted the state’s inaction in the custodial death and sought bail for Gangaram in the Supreme Court. Roy argued, “Gangaram is being victimised and faces prolonged incarceration for being the sole witness to Deva’s killing.” 

However, the court noted, “He is safer in custody. He might come out and get run over by a lorry, termed an accident. You will lose the sole witness,” adding that such incidents are “not uncommon” in the country. 

Roy emphasised Gangaram’s critical health condition due to custodial torture and lack of adequate medical treatment despite repeated requests to the jail superintendent.

The court’s observation that witnesses are often killed and later their murder is termed as an accident is a sobering admission of a broader systemic rot that even the judiciary is aware of. Killings in police custody are common, so are the deaths of witnesses in suspicious circumstances. 

The Supreme Court on April 29 directed jail authorities to ensure proper medical treatment for Gangaram.

Both, the custodial killing of Deva and the brutalities unleashed on Gangaram, have been recorded in great detail in the judicial magisterial inquiry conducted by magistrate Nitendra Singh Tomar soon after the incident. 

As per procedure laid down under Section 176 (1A) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), a judicial magistrate inquiry was set up. Tomar had meticulously recorded Gangaram’s statement, along with those of Deva’s mother Hansurabai and other members present at the house on the day of the wedding. The postmortem report too establishes that Deva died due to the injuries inflicted all over his body, as against the police’s flimsy claim of “death due to heart attack”.

The apex court has repeatedly reprimanded the state in this matter. In the previous hearing, the same bench questioned whether the state was aware of the Pardhi community’s plight, one of India’s most criminalised groups, facing false charges and atrocities. The court expressed concern over the misuse of social stigma against the Pardhi community and their wrongful implication in criminal cases across Madhya Pradesh and other regions where Denotified communities reside.

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