Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) directed the state government to pay Rs 10 lakh compensation to the family of a man who died three days after being assaulted by a railway police constable on suspicion of mobile theft.
On August 4, 2024, Vishal Dhende (35) was beaten to death for suspicion of having stolen phone. Vishal and three others were brutally beaten by a railway constable along with three other persons. All four victims including Vishal were taken to a hotel on the railway platform, where the constable and the two private persons allegedly assaulted them with a wooden stick and iron rod, as well as punched and kicked them before allowing them to go home. Dhende went to his parents’ residence and died there on August 4, 2023. His parents claimed that Dhende was beaten up so badly that he was unable to stand or walk.
Later, upon complaint from another person who was also assaulted along with him, police registered a case of custodial death.
All custodial death cases are sent to MSHRC for inquiry, and during examination, the commission took up the case for hearing. MSHRC provided legal aid to the victim’s family to represent their case.
“The commission is convinced that the constable, deployed at Ahmednagar railway police station, has perpetrated custodial violence, brutal and unrestrained in nature, on Dhende to extract a confession in an unregistered crime,” said the order passed by MSHRC chairperson KK Tated and member Sanjay Kumar, while awarding the compensation to the family.
The order said that witnesses had established the chain of events without any element of doubt. The MSHRC said it was a custodial death case, and, because the victim was the sole breadwinner, leaving behind a widow and three school-going daughters, asked the state to pay compensation to the family.
The order said that witnesses had established the chain of events without any element of doubt. The MSHRC said it was a custodial death case, and, because the victim was the sole breadwinner, leaving behind a widow and three school-going daughters, asked the state to pay compensation to the family, Times of India reported.
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