Mumbai: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday claimed that Somnath Suryavanshi was killed because he was a Dalit. Suryavanshi, who was arrested in the riots on the charge of insulting the copy of the constitution by a mentally ill person, died in judicial custody.
After meeting Suryavanshi’s family members in Parbhani, Gandhi demanded action against the police officers responsible for his death. “They (the family) showed me the post-mortem report, videos, photographs. This is 100% custodial death. He has been murdered,’ he said.
The opposition has alleged that he died due to police repression. Gandhi criticized the Maharashtra government for its handling of the case and demanded action against the guilty police officers. On December 15, law student Somnath Suryavanshi died in custody. The interim post-mortem report stated the immediate cause of death as “shock after multiple injuries”. However, last week Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the state assembly that Suryavanshi had told magistrates that he was not tortured in police custody and that CCTV footage from the lockdown showed no evidence of brutality. Fadnavis also said that Suryavanshi had chronic respiratory problems and internal injuries such as fractures. The Maharashtra government has announced financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to Suryavanshi’s family.
However, Gandhi accused the Maharashtra Chief Minister of lying in the assembly. ‘This young man was killed because he defended the constitution as a Dalit. The ideology of RSS is to destroy the constitution. We want this matter to be resolved immediately and the perpetrators to be punished. Politics is not done,’ he said.
Responding to Gandhi, Fadnavis said that the Congress leader’s visit was only for political purposes and that he tried to create hatred among people on the basis of caste. “It was just a political meeting, an attempt to create hatred among people on the basis of caste. He (Rahul Gandhi) has been doing this for many years. He has completed spreading hate in Parbhani today,” said the Maharashtra Chief Minister.