A Dalit man has died in Railway Protection Force custody in Gonda district, his family alleging the body had “deep injury marks” indicating an assault with “iron rods and knives”.
The doctor who conducted the postmortem said Sanjay Kumar Sonkar, 36, had been “dead when brought” and that the cause of death was unclear, while hinting at possible viscera tests.
Three personnel of the RPF, which reports to the central government, have been charged with murder and suspended.
This is the third allegation since October of a Dalit being tortured to death in Uttar Pradesh. A farm labourer was allegedly beaten to death by a rich landowner and his associates on Sunday for demanding ₹2,500 in unpaid wages in Amethi. On October 1, a Dalit was branded a “drone thief” and lynched in Rae Bareli.
Three RPF men had picked up Sanjay — a farm labourer — from his home in village Kinki on Tuesday “to question him” about the theft of petrol from a goods train, his younger brother Raju told reporters.
“They let him off after a few hours. They returned after a while and took him to a shopkeeper in the adjoining village of Barua,” Raju said.
“They then took him to an unknown place, and later to the local medical college hospital on Wednesday. Someone told us in the evening that he had been brought dead to the hospital and that we had to collect his body.”
He added: “They (RPF) held him for over 20 hours. We saw several deep injury marks on his body as if he had been hit by iron rods and knives.”
Vivek Trivedi, the officer in charge of the local police station, said RPF sub-inspector Surendra Kumar, constables Karan Singh Yadav and Amit Kumar Yadav, and “an unidentified person” had been booked for murder.
“The RPF was probing oil theft from a goods train near Baruachak railway station on September 28. Sanjay was picked up on suspicion,” he said.
Aniruddh Rai, the officer in charge of the local RPF post in Motiganj, said the three accused personnel had been suspended and a departmental probe ordered.
“The RPF wanted to know from Sanjay who was involved in the crime. The RPF was also looking for one Rampher Kumar,” Rai said.
“Sanjay told them that Rampher had gone to his in-laws’ home in Mankapur, a village some distance away from Kinki. The team took him to Mankapur but Rampher had already fled. Sanjay’s condition deteriorated during interrogation and he was taken to the medical college.”
Rai neither confirmed nor denied torture.
Mahendra Prasad Dubey, assistant security commissioner of the RPF in Gorakhpur, said: “A custody death is a serious matter. We are probing all aspects.”
Dr Kuldeep Pandey, who did the postmortem but asserted the cause of death remained unclear, was quoted as saying: “We have preserved his viscera for future investigation.”
Raju said Sanjay’s wife Geeta had been unconscious since learning of his death and had been admitted to the emergency ward of the same hospital.
“RPF people come to our village every now and then and threaten to beat or arrest us if we commit any crime,” he said.
“The nearest RPF post is 10km from our village. This was the first time they took away someone with them.”
Police sources said a large number of local Dalits had gathered in Kinki to protest the “custody murder”.
Gonda additional superintendent of police Manoj Kumar Rawat said: “We have stationed forces in the village to maintain law and order.”