The Bombay High Court has been urged to summon Maharashtra’s Home Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, to explain why the state has failed to frame binding guidelines for custodial death investigations, despite repeated judicial directions. The petition, filed by Vijayabai Vyankat Suryawanshi, mother of Somnath Suryawanshi, who died in Parbhani District Prison on December 15, 2024, alleges a “continuing legal vacuum” following magisterial inquiries under Section 196 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.
Bombay High Court orders SIT probe into custodial death of SC law student
Represented by advocates Prakash Ambedkar, Hitendra Gandhi, M.B. Sandanshiv, and Siddharth Y. Shinde, the petitioner states that while BNSS provides for a magisterial inquiry into deaths in custody, it is silent on mandatory steps after such inquiries conclude that the death was “unnatural or homicidal”.
“In Somnath’s case, both the expert panel at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and the learned Magistrate have already held that the death was due to ‘shock following multiple injuries’ and was homicidal in nature; however, in the absence of clear statutory rules or policy, the authorities have oscillated between fact-finding ‘enquiries’, shifting medical opinions and selective reliance on circulars, instead of promptly registering and investigating a case of custodial murder,” the application said.
