Rahul Gandhi to Visit Family of Dalit Youth Who Died in Custody in Parbhani

Mumbai, Dec 21 (NationPress) The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is scheduled to visit Parbhani on Monday to offer his condolences to the family of a Dalit youth who died under mysterious circumstances while in judicial custody last week, as announced by officials on Saturday.

Gandhi will arrive in Nanded via a special flight on Monday afternoon and will then travel to the residence of the youth, Somnath Vyankat Suryawanshi, in Parbhani to console his grieving family.

Suryawanshi, aged 35 and a member of the Wadar community, was arrested following the violent unrest that erupted after the desecration of a statue of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar close to Parbhani Railway Station on December 10, perpetrated by an individual identified as Sopan Pawar, who was described as ‘mentally disturbed’.

In the aftermath of the violence, a tense shutdown was enforced in Parbhani, during which local police detained or arrested approximately 300 individuals, predominantly Dalits, including Suryawanshi, on December 12.

Just 72 hours later, he was discovered dead while in judicial custody, leading to significant outrage. The Opposition coalition, known as Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which includes the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Shiv Sena (UBT), Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), CPI (Marxist), Republican Party of India (A), Republican Sena, and Republican Party of India (K), along with various Dalit organizations, condemned the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena-NCP MahaYuti regime for the incident.

In response to the uproar both inside the Maharashtra Legislature in Nagpur and outside, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced financial compensation for the grieving family, initiated a judicial inquiry, and established a Special Investigation Team to thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding the case.

Previously, the Parbhani Police had stated that Suryawanshi had reported chest pains and was taken to the hospital for medical attention.

However, a preliminary autopsy report from the Government Medical College, Aurangabad, indicated that he died due to shock following multiple injuries, escalating into a major political scandal.

Leaders from the MVA and various Dalit groups have vocally accused the police of brutally assaulting him, which was later corroborated by the preliminary post-mortem report dated December 16.