Parbhani, Maharashtra: As caste-based violence tore through parts of central Maharashtra’s Parbhani district on 11 December 2024, Ritesh Phonse, a 21-year-old class-12 student at Dnyanopasak College was among the nearly 50 young men from Dalit communities detained by police later that day from Parbhani city, 525 km east of Mumbai.

Policemen of the New Mondha Police Station beat him, as they did to all the other detainees, he alleged. “They used their batons,” he said about the beating. “They hurled casteist slurs at me, they insulted Ambedkar, our religion, the Constitution, and our parents.”

Phonse was among 50 people, almost all from Dalit communities, named in a first information report (FIR) filed by the Parbhani police at the New Mondha police station, one of at least eight FIRs filed in connection with the violence that broke out on 11 December after a glass-encased cement replica of the Constitution of India placed at the base of a statue of Dr B R Ambedkar was vandalised outside Parbhani railway station on 10 December.

It emerged that the sculpture was damaged when a young man with a history of mental illness threw stones at it, but by then Dalit groups had already planned what was to be a peaceful protest rally on 11 December.

The protest march through Parbhani city turned violent just before noon on 11 December, with protestors vandalising property and setting fire to tyres and shop signages.

According to Dalit leaders in Parbhani, the violence was perpetrated by a group of agitators who were outsiders looking to incite conflict.

Hours after the vandalism and arson, according to Phonse and several other detainees as well as leaders of Dalit organisations in Parbhani, the police launched a combing operation in Dalit neighbourhoods, arresting at least 50 individuals. Several of those detained and arrested reported later that they were assaulted while in police custody.

A 35-year-old law student, Somnath Suryawanshi, died after three days in police custody, soon after being moved to Parbhani district jail. No FIR was filed in relation to his death.

Phonse was released on bail seven days after his arrest, traumatised by his incarceration, first in the police station lock-up and then in Parbhani district jail. He appeared for his Class XII board exams in February 2025, but with the case still ongoing, his studies were badly hit, he told Article 14.

Police Excesses Against Dalits

More than two months since the violence and subsequent arrests in Parbhani, families of the dozens of men arrested or detained continue to seek justice and accountability, in a state that has seen a sharp rise in incidence of crimes against Dalits.

Data shared by the union government in Parliament in August 2023 revealed that of 687 deaths in police custody across the country between 2018-19 and 2022-23, Maharashtra accounted for 80, second only to Gujarat.

Atrocities against scheduled castes in Maharashtra have recorded a significant rise too, from 1,947 cases in 2018 to 2,743 in 2022,  a growth of approximately 40.8% in four years. While 2,371 cases of crimes against scheduled castes (SCs) were sent for trial in 2022, there were already 13,324 cases pending from previous years. By the end of 2022, the pendency rate stood at 93.5% for cases of crimes against SCs.

In February 2022, the government cited data from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to tell Parliament that there had been 2,152 deaths in judicial custody and 155 in police custody in the year 2021-22. While Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of deaths in judicial custody (448), Maharashtra reported the most police custody deaths (29) during that period.

Compared to 150 custodial deaths in 2016-17, Maharashtra recorded 183 deaths in police and judicial custody in 2021-22.

The Vigilance and Monitoring Committee in Maharashtra, which is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, has convened only once since 2018, despite a legal mandate requiring the panel to meet twice a year to review the progress of cases under the Act, according to an investigation based on information obtained through the right-to-information law.

Despite recurring instances of police violence against Dalits (see here, here and here), experts said India has seen inadequate discussion on caste discrimination within the criminal justice administration system, from the pre-trial stage onwards until the post-release rehabilitation of prisoners.

In its 2018 report ‘Criminal Justice In The Shadow Of Caste: A Study On Discrimination Against Dalit And Adivasi Prisoners And Victims Of Police Excesses’, the National Dalit Movement for Justice analysed caste-based classification of undertrials based on National Crime Records Bureau data from 2014 to find that while Dalits and Adivasis constituted about 24% of the population, their share amongst prisoners was considerably higher at 34%.

From filing false cases and extracting confessions illegally to instances of torture, rape and custodial deaths, the report investigated various forms of police excesses and police brutality against marginalised communities.

Sukhadeo Thorat, former chairman of the University Grants Commission and former director of the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, told Article 14 that though atrocities against Dalits have been increasing in Maharashtra for the past few years, conviction rates in these cases remain low.

“This is due to wilful negligence by the administration and the police, which weakens evidence and delays cases, ultimately leading to low conviction rates,” said Thorat.

The Parliamentary standing committee on social justice and empowerment had also acknowledged administrative negligence as a factor behind delayed justice in cases of crimes against Dalits, he said, adding that the death of Somnath Suryawanshi must be investigated.

“The government must intervene, and the judiciary should expedite this case,” he said.

A fact-finding report in the Parbhani incident released by civil society group Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) also found significant lapses in the police investigation, including a failure to register complaints and properly investigate the stone-throwing incident that triggered angry protests by Dalits.

Dalit victims of alleged police brutality had filed 12 detailed, separate complaints to the Parbhani Police, the report said. “… and yet, none of these have been registered as an FIR.”

Article 14 visited the New Mondha police station in Parbhani and contacted superintendent of police (SP), Parbhani, Ravindrasingh Pardeshi, to seek a comment about allegations of police brutality against Dalit protestors in Parbhani. Neither officials at the police station nor the SP provided a comment.

Article 14 also made repeated attempts to contact special inspector general, Nanded Range, Shahaji Umap, for a comment. There was no response.

Earlier, Umap told ANI that all arrests had been made at the site of the protests, and no combing operation had been conducted. “It is incorrect that we arrested a few people during the combing operation last night,” he said.

The Maharashtra government suspended police inspector Ashok Ghorband on 20 December, pending enquiry into allegations of use of excessive force against the protestors. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis also announced a judicial probe into the violence and allegations of police brutality.

Unrest Orchestrated, Say Dalit Leaders

Leaders of Dalit groups in Parbhani said they believe ‘outsiders’ in the protest march deliberately incited trouble and were responsible for the vandalism and arson.

On 10 December 2024, Hindutva group Hindu Sakal Samaj organised a rally in Parbhani, near the Shivaji statue at a major traffic junction, to protest  “atrocities against Hindus” in Bangladesh. Located only a few metres from a statue of Dr B R Ambedkar, the rally at the Shivaji statue ended at 1 pm.

Around 5 pm, a 45-year-old man named Sopan Pawar, who had participated in the Hindu rally, vandalised the sculpture of the Constitution at the Ambedkar statue. Pawar, later identified as having a history of mental health issues, threw stones at the statue, but was quickly stopped by passersby.

Shortly thereafter, a large crowd of Dalits gathered at the Ambedkar statue and shouted slogans. Dalit leaders in Parbhani then decided to call for a bandh on 11 December.

According to the FIR filed by police inspector Sharad More at the New Mondha police station in Parbhani, protestors gathered at multiple locations across the city on 11 December, carrying rods and sticks. They blocked some roads despite police requests not to obstruct traffic or disrupt public movement.

According to the FIR, the situation escalated around 11:45 am, with agitators  pelting stones at passing vehicles and nearby shops, damaging public property. When police personnel intervened, the protestors threw stones at them while shouting slogans. Near Ambedkar’s statue, around 500 men and 100 women had gathered.

Nine policemen sustained injuries due to stone pelting. According to the FIR, vehicles’ windows, shop fronts and motorcycles were damaged.

Yashwant Sonawane, 40, a member of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), said, “They (those who engaged in violence) covered their faces and deliberately caused trouble. Our community feels that these individuals were not from our group but were sent by others.”

It was Sonawane who had invited Somnath Suryawanshi, the law student, to join the protest.

According to Sonawane, Suryawanshi had attended the protest earlier in the day and had decided to return home to rest around 2 pm. In the evening, he returned to the protest site.

As Somnath Suryawanshi rejoined the crowd, the police detained him. By then, vandalism and arson had begun in various parts of the city,

“He tried to explain that he was a journalist and a law student, hoping they would understand and let him go,” said Sonawane. “They didn’t listen. Instead, they verbally abused him and beat him before taking him to the police station.”

‘Police Beat Everyone Who Was Detained’

According to Phonse, the Class XII student, he was riding a bike on 11 December, going from the railway station to his home in Parbhani’s Ashok Nagar locality. He said he was not participating in the protest by Dalit groups.

The bike he was riding bore a sticker on its front depicting Ambedkar’s signature. “When I passed the superintendent of police’s office, the police asked me to park the bike, then took me to the police station,” he said. He found his name included in one of the FIRs pertaining to the rioting.

Phonse was released on bail by the Parbhani district and sessions court on 19 December.

Phonse sports a tattoo of Ambedkar on his right hand. He said policemen rained blows on this hand. “They used their polycarbonate police lathi (baton) to beat us.”

Many detainees were at the Nanalpeth police station in Parbhani city for three days. Phonse recalled that one policeman laid another detainee on the floor and stood over him, beating him.

Sidharth Raybole, 40, also detained on 11 December, said nobody was spared during the beatings. “They beat everyone who was detained,” he said. “There were around 40-50 policemen, and we were all assaulted.”

Raybole said he saw the assault on Suryavanshi, who later died. “They beat him right in front of me…Once, they forced him to sleep in just his underwear,” Raybole said.

The policemen used caste-based slurs and insulted the detained men over their religion, he added.

Raybole said the men were threatened against mentioning the beatings when they were presented before the magistrate. “Out of fear, we remained silent in court about their brutality,” he said.

Dhammadeep Mogle, 32, a master’s student of psychology who is preparing to appear for entrance exams to become a police sub-inspector, said he was arrested around 4:30 pm while he was driving his motorcycle.

“The police noticed a blue mark on my forehead and started beating me,” said Mogle. “They put me in a van and took me to the New Mondha police station.”

He said he too was beaten with a police baton, and sustained injuries to his left leg. Mogle said he tried to explain that he was a student and had exams coming up later that month, but without luck.

Mogle said he was detained but not arrested—his name was not included in the FIR. On the evening of 11 December, he said, he lost consciousness after being beaten.  Mogle said the police admitted him to Parbhani Civil Hospital, where he remained for three days.

His left leg was severely bleeding, and his body was covered in bruises.

Doctors at Parbhani’s Sahyadri Specialty Orthopedic Hospital confirmed nerve damage in his left leg, he said. Doctors placed his left leg in a plaster cast for 10 days.

On 19 December, Mogle went to the police station to register a police complaint against policemen who had beaten him, but the New Mondha police station turned him away. “They threatened me, telling me not to come back or they would accuse me of escaping from jail or would fabricate some other false case against me,” he said.

Mogle reported the incident to the office of the SP, Parbhani, as well as to the office of the deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Nanded Range, but no FIR was filed.

No FIR In Case Of Custodial Death  

Somnath Suryawanshi aspired to become a Supreme Court judge, his family said, a dream that died when he collapsed while in police custody on 15 December 2024 and subsequently died.

He was initially held at New Mondha police station in Parbhani city, before being moved to Parbhani District Jail.

A post-mortem report cited the cause of his death as being “shock following multiple injuries”. The family alleged that these injuries were sustained while he was in custody. However, no FIR has been filed in the matter of his death.

Somnath Suryavanshi’s mother, Vijaya Suryawanhi, lives in Nilanga taluka of Latur district, about 170 km south of Parbhani, while her eldest son had been away in Parbhani for three years pursuing a law degree at the Shri Shivaji Law College. Her husband died in 2018.

The family belongs to the Waddar caste, a nomadic tribe according to official classification. Traditionally stone workers, Vijay Suryawanshi and her two younger sons were away in Pune working at a road construction site when Somnath Suryawanshi died in police custody.

The family having lodged a complaint at the New Mondha police station with a copy submitted to the SP and other senior police officials, they said they are demanding that an FIR be registered in the case of Suryawanshi’s death and an investigation be promptly initiated.

To pursue the matter, Vijaya Suryawanshi and her two younger sons are now staying in a rented two-room flat in the city.

Politicians including Rahul Gandhi and Sharad Pawar visited her in the aftermath of the incident, offering words of comfort and promises of justice. “No real action has been taken. They leave after talking, and nothing changes,” she told Article 14.

With tears in her eyes, the mother said she would not return to their village  until the police file an FIR and investigate Somnath Suryawanshi’s death. “Whoever is responsible for his death must be punished. They should be taught a lesson. They should be hanged,” she said. “Mazha porgaach mazha ghar, bangla, dhan daulat hota. (My son was my home and my asset).”

Suryawanshi’s father passed away in 2018. He had worked part-time along with pursuing his studies, supporting his mother and younger brothers, Premnath (30) and Avinash (26).

Vijaya Suryawanshi said her son was healthy and had no illness.

“How can Devendra Fadnavis falsely claim that my son had breathing problems and died because of it?” she said. “Does he have any proof, any medical report to support his claim? He was strong and healthy.”

On 15 December, the police called her, asking for her name, her son’s name, and place of residence. The officer then told her Somnath Suryawanshi had died of a heart attack and she should travel to Parbhani to collect his body.

Vijaya Suryawanshi had last heard from her 35-year-old first-born on 10 December, after which his phone had been unavailable. Upon watching news reports of the violence in Parbhani, she tried calling him, but found his phone switched off.

Advocate N V Pimpalgaonkar, who is representing Suryawanshi’s family and assisted them in filing a complaint, said he had found out from other detainees that Suryawanshi had been unable to sleep, in pain from the beatings.

Having been shifted to judicial custody on 14 December, he was admitted to the Civil Hospital, Parbhani by the jailer of Parbhani district jail on 15 December, where he was declared dead.

Police Crackdown: Arrests, Police Brutality

Though the Parbhani police maintained that the arrests were conducted during the protest and rioting, Dalit residents and community leaders said local police and the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) launched a combing operation on the night of 11 December, rounding up Ambedkarites from their homes and  elsewhere in the city.

Amol Shrishankar, 37, an Ambedkarite who participated in the protest, said the police combing operation targeted areas with significant Dalit populations, such as Ambedkar Nagar, Ramabai Nagar, Priyadarshini Nagar and Gautam Nagar in Parbhani city.

“Young boys under 18 were beaten so badly in their homes that they couldn’t even walk,” Shrishankar continued. “The police also beat women, both in residential areas and at the police station, using casteist slurs.” He said people were assaulted at home and then again at the station.

Sonawane said police teams came to areas where SC/ST communities live, targeting homes that displayed symbols of Buddhism, the Ashok Chakra or the  blue Ambedkarite flag. “They also singled out vehicles marked with the ‘Jai Bhim’ slogan or carrying stickers of Ambedkar’s signature.”

Many Dalits in Parbhani compared the combing operation that night to a spate of arrests on the night of Ambedkar Jayanti in 1990. No FIR was ever filed in that case, said locals.

According to the police, around 3 pm on 11 December, 45 men and five women were detained, and then arrested on charges of rioting, assaulting public servants, damaging public property and carrying weapons.

Police invoked sections five sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, including assault of and using “criminal force” against public servants, inflicting injury using “dangerous weapons or means”, and sections of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act 1984 and the Bombay Police Act 1951.

On 17 January 2025, families of the victims and anti-caste activists began a long march to Mumbai from Parbhani, 600 km in 30 days. Activists said they hoped the march would put pressure on the Maharashtra state government led by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Ashish Vakode, one of the organisers of the march that aimed to throw light on systemic caste-based discrimination by police, said about 500 men and women had covered about 380 km of the distance by February 7, when they decided to turn back after Parbhani’s guardian minister Meghana Bordikar announced the suspension of five more policemen.

“Our other demands, however, have remained unfulfilled, including the seizure of CCTV footage from the police station, compensation and government jobs for Suryawanshi’s family members, withdrawal of cases against protestors, and an investigation into the Sakal Hindu Samaj demonstration,” Vakode said.

They would resume the journey to Mumbai, he said, hoping to reach by 10 March, in time to stage a protest at the Vidhan Bhavan during the budget session of the Maharashtra legislative assembly.

(Azib Ahmed is a Delhi-based independent journalist who writes on human rights, politics, health and the environment.) 

The Original Piece may be read here