Bombay high court's Aurangabad bench hears Somnath Suryawanshi custodial death petition' Prakash Ambedkar seeks SIT probe
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief
Prakash Ambedkar
on Monday raised the demand for a court-monitored independent SIT to probe into Somnath Suryawanshi's death in judicial custody on Dec 16, 2024.
Ambedkar raised the demand as the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court heard a petition filed by Vijayabai Suryawanshi, mother of Somnath Suryawanshi (35). Somnath was arrested in connection with the protests that had turned violent over the desecration of the Indian Constitution monument in Parbhani.
Appearing for the family in the court, VBA chief Ambedkar, besides demanding a court-monitored independent Special Investigation Team (SIT), also spoke about the "lack of a clear legal mechanism" to take further action under Section 196 of BNSS.
The matter was heard by the HC division bench of Justice Vibha Kankanwadi and Justice Sanjay Deshmukh.
Following the SOP, a CID committee was appointed by the state govt to investigate the custodial death and prepared a report. However, the high court during one of the earlier hearings stayed the CID's proceedings before the report could be finalised.
Chief govt pleader Amarjeetsingh Girase, who represented the state during the hearing, said, "During the course of Monday's hearing, we on behalf of the state submitted that the inquiry by the SIT was completed.
We (SIT) recorded the statements of more than 190 people and collected all relevant documents as well as electronic evidence crucial for this case. As the HC during the last hearing directed us not to finalise anything, today we sought permission to submit the final inquiry report.
"
While Ambedkar, who was present along with a battery of lawyers, strongly pitched for directives to the state to address "the legal gap" in BNSS.
"There is a void in the law about what should follow after a judicial magistrate conducts an inquiry in custodial death cases. We urged the HC to address this legal gap," he told the media after the hearing.
"The second major demand was for the formation of a court-monitored SIT to conduct an independent investigation. "Since the custodial death occurred while Somnath was in judicial custody, it is inappropriate for the same police machinery to carry out the probe.
The court heard our request positively. We are expecting an order on this soon," he added.
Authorities had initially attributed Somnath's death to cardiac arrest. A postmortem report, however, indicated injuries consistent with physical assault.
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar on Monday raised the demand for a court-monitored independent SIT to probe into Somnath Suryawanshi's death in judicial custody on Dec 16, 2024.
Ambedkar raised the demand as the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court heard a petition filed by Vijayabai Suryawanshi, mother of Somnath Suryawanshi (35). Somnath was arrested in connection with the protests that had turned violent over the desecration of the Indian Constitution monument in Parbhani.
Appearing for the family in the court, VBA chief Ambedkar, besides demanding a court-monitored independent Special Investigation Team (SIT), also spoke about the "lack of a clear legal mechanism" to take further action under Section 196 of BNSS.
The matter was heard by the HC division bench of Justice Vibha Kankanwadi and Justice Sanjay Deshmukh.
Following the SOP, a CID committee was appointed by the state govt to investigate the custodial death and prepared a report. However, the high court during one of the earlier hearings stayed the CID's proceedings before the report could be finalised.
Chief govt pleader Amarjeetsingh Girase, who represented the state during the hearing, said, "During the course of Monday's hearing, we on behalf of the state submitted that the inquiry by the SIT was completed.
We (SIT) recorded the statements of more than 190 people and collected all relevant documents as well as electronic evidence crucial for this case. As the HC during the last hearing directed us not to finalise anything, today we sought permission to submit the final inquiry report.
"
While Ambedkar, who was present along with a battery of lawyers, strongly pitched for directives to the state to address "the legal gap" in BNSS.
"There is a void in the law about what should follow after a judicial magistrate conducts an inquiry in custodial death cases. We urged the HC to address this legal gap," he told the media after the hearing.
"The second major demand was for the formation of a court-monitored SIT to conduct an independent investigation. "Since the custodial death occurred while Somnath was in judicial custody, it is inappropriate for the same police machinery to carry out the probe. The court heard our request positively. We are expecting an order on this soon," he added.
Authorities had initially attributed Somnath's death to cardiac arrest. A postmortem report, however, indicated injuries consistent with physical assault.
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