A 36-year-old Dalit man, Sanjay Kumar Sonkar, has died while in the custody of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in Gonda district, Uttar Pradesh, with his family alleging that his body bore severe injuries suggesting assault with iron rods and knives.
According to Sanjay’s younger brother, Raju, the RPF had initially picked up Sanjay from his home in Kinki village on Tuesday to question him about alleged petrol theft from a goods train. “They let him go after a few hours but returned later and took him to a shopkeeper in a nearby village, then to an unknown location, and finally to the local medical college hospital on Wednesday,” Raju said. He added that the family was informed only in the evening that Sanjay had been brought dead to the hospital. “They held him for over 20 hours. We saw deep injury marks on his body as if he had been hit by iron rods and knives,” he claimed.
The postmortem conducted by Dr. Kuldeep Pandey stated that Sanjay was already dead when brought to the hospital, and the cause of death remains unclear. The doctor said that Sanjay’s viscera had been preserved for further investigation.
Three RPF personnel, sub-inspector Surendra Kumar and constables Karan Singh Yadav and Amit Kumar Yadav, have been charged with murder and suspended, while a departmental probe has been ordered. Aniruddh Rai, officer in charge of the local RPF post, said the team was trying to question Sanjay about another suspect, Rampher Kumar, who had already left the area. “Sanjay’s condition deteriorated during interrogation, and he was taken to the medical college,” Rai said, neither confirming nor denying allegations of torture.
Mahendra Prasad Dubey, assistant security commissioner of the RPF in Gorakhpur, said, “A custody death is a serious matter. We are probing all aspects.”
Sanjay’s wife, Geeta, reportedly fell unconscious upon hearing of his death and was admitted to the same hospital. Raju also said that RPF personnel regularly visit their village, threatening residents with arrest or beatings if any crime is committed.
Authorities have deployed additional forces in Kinki village to maintain law and order as local Dalit residents protested the death in custody. Gonda Additional Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Rawat said, “We have stationed forces in the village to ensure peace.”
This is the third reported case since October in Uttar Pradesh where a Dalit has allegedly died due to violence, including an incident in Amethi where a farm labourer was beaten to death over unpaid wages, and a case in Rae Bareli where a Dalit man was lynched.
