Man picked up at haldi ceremony, tortured and killed in police custody: Supreme Court orders CBI probe

The Supreme Court on Thursday transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the probe into the alleged custodial torture and death of a 25-year-old man in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna district [Hansura Bai & Another v. State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors]..A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta observed that that the Medical Board, despite recording multiple injuries on the victim's body, deliberately failed to state the cause of death, likely due to pressure from local police officials.The Court said that it appears that the investigation by the local police lacks fairness and transparency."These circumstances give rise to a clear inference that the investigation by the local police is not being carried out in a fair and transparent manner and there is an imminent possibility of the prosecution being subjugated by the accused if the investigation is left in the hands of the State police, who are apparently shielding their own fellow policemen owing to the camaraderie.".The Court was hearing an appeal filed by the victim's mother to transfer the investigation into the custodial death of her son Deva Pardhi to an independent agency, and to release the sole eyewitness, Gangaram Pardhi (the deceased's uncle), on bail. The Madhya Pradesh High Court had earlier deniedOn June 2, 2024, during the pre-wedding haldi ceremony of Deva Pardhi, a large group of police officers forcibly entered the premises, assaulted Deva and his uncle, and took them into custody in relation to a theft case..It is alleged that the two were taken to a police station without CCTV and subjected to brutal torture, including beatings, application of petrol and chili powder on their bodies, and waterboarding. Deva died as a result of the torture. The post-mortem revealed multiple injuries, but the cause of death was vaguely attributed to vasovagal shock, allegedly due to pressure from the police.The sole eyewitness, Gangaram Pardhi, was illegally detained, later remanded to judicial custody, and subsequently implicated in multiple criminal cases, allegedly to suppress his testimony..After going through the facts, the Court said,"We are, therefore, convinced that this is a classic case warranting invocation of the Latin maxim ‘nemo judex in causa sua’ which means that ‘no one should be a judge in his own cause’. The allegation of causing custodial death of Deva Pardhi is against the local police officials of Myana Police Station. The fact that the police officials have influenced the investigation right from the beginning is amply borne out from the circumstance that even the doctors, who conducted autopsy of the dead body of Deva Pardhi, seem to have been pressurised/influenced...therefore, we deem it fit and essential to direct that the investigation of FIR No. 341 of 2024 shall forthwith be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation," Court said in May 15 Judgement..The Court also allowed Gangaram Pardhi to apply for bail before the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which was directed to decide his bail plea expeditiously. It further directed the Madhya Pradesh government to ensure his protection under the witness protection scheme."A deliberate attempt is being made to somehow or the other, implicate Gangaram Pardhi in multiple cases, one after the other, so as to keep him behind bars indefinitely, and break his spirit and the spirit of his family members thereby ensuring that the said person being the star witness of the custodial death of Deva Pardhi is not only demoralized but is also prevented from deposing against the errant police officials," the Court noted..The Court ordered that if the police officers are found responsible for the custodial death, they must be arrested within a month. It also directed the CBI to conclude its investigation within 90 days of the accused being arrested..Advocates Payoshi Roy, Siddhartha, S Prabu Ramasubramanian, Nikita Sonavane, Sagar Soni, Maheshwari Mawase, Madhvi Gomathieswaran, Bharathimohan M, Avinash Kumar, V Swetha and Vairawan AS appeared for the petitioners.Additional Solicitors General Aishwarya Bhati and Nachiketa Joshi along with Advocates Yashraj Singh Bundela, Pratima Singh, Saloni, Arpit Garg, Dhruv Sharma, Shikhar Goel, Pranav Sachdeva, Shivam Gaur and Nitin Sharma appeared for the State..[Read Judgment]