Parbhani violence: HC restrains police from finalising inquiry into custodial death of 35-year-old man

Bombay High Court restrains police from finalizing probe in Somnath Suryavanshi's custodial death, ensuring impartial investigation.

In the custodial death of Somnath Vyankat Suryavanshi in Parbhani district of Maharashtra, the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday (April 29, 2025) issued significant directions and restrained the police from finalising any kind of investigation in the matter till the next date of hearing.

Expressing grave concern, a Division Bench of Justices Vibha Kankanwadi and Sanjay A. Deshmukh said that the ongoing police inquiry appears to be conducted with a preconceived notion, thus it is jeopardising the fairness and impartiality of the case. The court said it is important to preserve the integrity of the investigation.

Public prosecutor A.B. Girase representing the Maharashtra government informed the Bench that it would file an affidavit in reply.

The petitioner, Vijayabai Vyankat Suryawanshi, mother of Somnath Vyankat Suryavanshi was represented by advocate Prakash Ambedkar, assisted by advocates Sandesh More and Hitendra Gandhi, urged the court for an immediate registration of an F.I.R. against the responsible police officers in the custodial death as well as formation of a court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct an independent and impartial investigation.

“When the police themselves are the accused, how can they conduct an enquiry in the case? The first step should be registration of F.I.R. against all the accused police officers in the case. Once the F.I.R. is registered, an impartial investigation should be conducted by the court-monitored SIT. We have referred to the directions issued in the Badlapur custodial death case and asked the Bench to form a guideline for matters concerning custodial deaths,” advocate Gandhi said.

The matter is scheduled for further hearing on May 8, 2025.

In the Badlapur custodial death case, Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Neela Gokhale had ordered an SIT to probe the five policemen who are allegedly involved in the fake encounter of Badlapur sexual assault case accused Akshay Shinde. The court had also formed a magistrate inquiry that found the five police officers responsible for the death of Shinde.