The Bombay High Court on Thursday ordered an expedited magisterial inquiry into the custodial death of a man accused of sexually abusing two minor girls in Badlapur near Mumbai in August, Bar and Bench reported.
A bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and PK Chavan directed that the inquiry report be submitted by the next hearing, scheduled for November 18.
The court said that it will wait for the findings of the report before ruling on the petition filed by the father of the accused seeking an investigation by a Special Investigation Team into his son’s death while in police custody.
“Law requires that when there is a custodial death, the investigation be conducted by the magistrate,” the court said. “Let the investigation be conducted. We will wait for the report of the magistrate.”
The accused, Akshay Shinde, allegedly sexually abused the minors on August 12 in their school, where he worked as a janitor. Four days later, one of the children reported the incident to her parents who approached the police. He was arrested on August 17.
On September 23, Shinde died while he was being taken from Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai to the Crime Branch office in Thane in connection with a separate case of sexual assault filed by his second wife in 2022.
The police claimed that he snatched a police weapon and fired at security personnel during his transportation. He injured a police officer and was shot in retaliatory firing that led to his death, according to the authorities.
Shinde’s death in the police firing drew criticism of the state government from the Opposition parties in Maharashtra with Congress leader and former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan alleging that the accused was killed in a “fake encounter” by the police to “save certain people”.
While hearing the father’s petition on September 25, the High Court questioned whether Shinde’s death, allegedly in an exchange of fire with the police, could be termed as an “encounter”.
The court also asked why Shinde was shot in the head, and not on his hands or legs first, PTI reported. “How could we believe that the police, who were trained in firing, couldn’t overpower the accused?” it asked.
On Tuesday, the Maharashtra government set up a single-member commission of Dilip Bhosale, a retired chief justice of the Allahabad High Court, to investigate the custodial death.
The investigation will focus on whether any individual, group or organisation was directly or indirectly responsible for the incident.
On Thursday, the court asked Advocate General Birendra Saraf about the progress the investigation had made since the last hearing. Saraf said that the directions issued by the court have been complied with.
The court inquired whether a forensic expert had examined the vehicle involved in the incident and noted that the circumstances of the gunshot injury sustained by a police officer must also be investigated.
The court advised the petitioner’s counsel not to speak to the media, Bar and Bench reported.
“The less you speak, less you address the media, is always better,” the court said. “We are here to do justice to all.”
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