Firozabad: There is silence in the Nagla Pachiya area of Firozabad, the city of bangles. Only to be broken by the loud cries of Shakuntala Devi’s “koi mere eklaute bete ko lauta do, someone please return my only son”.
Half a dozen police officers and local intelligence unit members stand outside her home – keeping a hawk eye on every person who visits the family and clicking every movement. On Monday, a family member even reprimanded one for the surveillance and photography.
After all, it’s the police who’s accused of killing Akash Singh ‘Jatav’, a 28-year-old Dalit man who was arrested on 18 June on charges of bike theft. Akash died in police custody three days later. As the family turned to protest demanding justice, joined by Bhim Army members, the police confirmed the findings of the post-mortem report revealing 14 injury marks on Akash’s body. The cause of his death, according to the report, was “an antemortem head injury”.
“Does anyone beat someone so much? The police implicated him in a false case and beat him so much that he died. What will happen to his two children now?” said Akash’s mother Shakuntala, surrounded by relatives and neighbours at her home in Nagla Pachiya where she has lived for four decades.
Shakuntala said that she had gone to meet her son in jail and had even received the meeting slip but she was informed about his death instead.
Does anyone beat someone so much? The police implicated him in a false case and beat him so much that he died. What will happen to his two children now?
Shakuntala, Akash Singh’s mother
Akash was the only son of Shakuntala and Biri Singh, who did bangle work. “He was the only breadwinner of this household. What will happen to us now in this old age? My son was not a thief, and he never did anything wrong,” said a distraught Shakuntala.
The shock of their son’s death has prevented the family from filing an FIR. Judicial inquiry hasn’t begun either. According to information received from the district administration, an investigation committee will be formed by Tuesday to probe the case further.
“After the conclusion of the judicial inquiry, if police officers are found guilty, we will take action against them,” said Saurabh Dixit, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) – Firozabad. Dixit confirmed the postmortem report and said there were many injuries on his body.
Uttar Pradesh is one of the few states where custodial deaths are very high. According to Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, between 2018 and 2023, as many as 687 people died in police custody in India. According to a PTI report, Rai, citing the data provided by the National Human Rights Commission, had said that a total of 164 deaths in police custody were reported in 2022-23, 175 in 2021-22, 100 in 2020-21, 112 in 2019-20 and 136 in 2018-2019.
In UP police stations, an officer’s belt is euphemistically called ‘samaj sudharak’ or social reformer. Beating to extract confession is an old stubborn practice of Indian policing that refuses to go away. Jails are also an extension of this practice in many areas. Human rights groups in India and around the world have systematically called custodial torture an archaic style of investigation and demanded the police and jail authorities be trained in civil rights and made accountable.
In the ‘DK Basu vs State of West Bengal’ case, the Supreme Court established guidelines to protect the rights and dignity of individuals in police custody. And it strictly prohibited the use of ‘third-degree torture’ methods.
“When a death occurs in police custody, the first suspicion often falls on the police itself because it has, many a time, played a role in such tragedies. But there are other reasons behind it as well, such as serious illnesses or attacks by fellow inmates,” said a former UP Police commissioner on condition of anonymity.
My son was completely healthy. How did these marks appear on his body? The police is the culprit. We want justice
Biri Singh, Akash’s father
Local media is replete with headlines blaming the police. One reads – “Maa aur chachi ne bhi sahi police ki lathiya, pade neele nishan (Mother and aunt also lathi-charged by police, blue marks left on their bodies).” Another one reads: “Akash ki maut chhod gayi saval, aakhir kaun hai zimmedar? (Akash’s death has left a question: Who is responsible?)”
Meanwhile, politicians have come out in support of the family. Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Ramji Lal Suman visited Akash’s home and demanded a fair enquiry, while Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati condemned the incident on X. “The state government should act against guilty police personnel and extend help to the aggrieved family,” she wrote in her post.
Bhim Army also joined the protests, said Akash’s father Biri Singh. Nagina MP and Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad took to X, demanding a fair judicial investigation and Rs 50 lakh compensation for the family.
The case of Firozabad looks suspicious at first glance, said the former commissioner. “The jail administration had an evasive attitude and did not clarify the situation. This matter should be investigated and the truth should be brought out soon. Only then will people’s trust in the police administration remain.”
‘He had turned blue’
Biri Singh, over 70 years old, is sitting with his granddaughter in his lap, and claims that the police has been trying to mislead the family. “My son was completely healthy. How did these marks appear on his body? The police is the culprit. We want justice,” he said. According to a Times of India report, Akash’s injuries “included a blue patch around his left eye, bruises on his neck, arms, thighs, scapular region and buttocks”.
One of Akash’s neighbours showed pictures of his body to ThePrint on a smartphone. “From head, shoulders to legs, there was no place on his body without injury. Even his nose was bleeding,” said Akash’s uncle Chob Singh.
Police say Akash and his friend were allegedly arrested with parts of the bike they stole. The police booked the duo under Indian Penal Code sections 411 (dishonestly receiving or retaining stolen property) and 414 (assisting in concealing stolen property).
Firozabad South Police Station in-charge Inspector Yogendra Pal Singh said that Akash and his friend Shivam were arrested at 6:15 pm on 18 June.
The next day, at 10:05 am on 19 June, Akash’s medical examination was conducted at a trauma centre, where they found no injuries on his body. He was then produced before the chief judicial magistrate court and sent to remand.
“We have no involvement in his death. We did our routine work and sent him to the district jail,” said Yogesh Pal Singh.
Both Akash and Shivam were thieves, he stressed, “and Akash was an alcoholic”. The police, he claimed, had arrested Shivam’s brother, who runs an organised gang of thieves, several times before.
Things rapidly came undone in jail. But the explanations are patchy.
Akash, according to Firozabad jail inspector Anand Kumar Singh, fell ill on the night of 20 June and was taken to the hospital. He died around 6 am on 21 June. “We have recommended a judicial inquiry and the investigation will bring out the truth,” Singh said. Akash was in the district jail for more than 40 hours before his death. ThePrint also read the records of the district hospital, which stated that Akash was dead by the time he was brought to the hospital.
The district jail has also not clarified the situation properly. Even senior district officials have not been provided with complete information by the jail, said a senior police officer.
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‘How will we survive?’
Losing her only son has devastated Akash’s mother. Shakuntala says with teary eyes that Akash was born 15 years after her marriage. “I raised him with a lot of love and now he is gone.”
Akash got married seven to eight years ago and had two children – a boy, about six years old and a girl, about 1.5 years old. Unlike his father, who was involved in Firozabad’s traditional bangle business, he took up work in a local marble factory. Pointing toward Akash’s home, his uncle Chob Singh recalled that his nephew had tiled the house himself.
The government has given Rs 5 lakh to the victim’s family as compensation.
But Akash’s mother Shakuntala said that her daughter-in-law’s brother took the government cheque away. “How will we survive now?” Akash brought in about Rs 10,000-12,000 for his family through his work at the marble factory, after travelling 5-6 km each way on his bike daily.
Akash’s one-storey, pink-coloured residence is full of sympathetic relatives and neighbours, their shoes and slippers lining the humble entrance. His father sits with his head bowed, as if immersed in deep thought. Akash’s mother is inconsolable, breaking into tears every time someone enters her room. She is worried sick about the family’s finances. One woman tries to reassure her, saying that the family could expect Rs 3,000 quarterly from the PM Kisan Nidhi Yojana (which they had applied for earlier), and Rs 1,000-1,500 monthly from their pension.
On 15 June, Akash and his wife Preeti had left the house and went to live somewhere else, Shakuntala told ThePrint. “Akash and his wife had taken a room nearby. On 17 June, he came with his wife to get some things. I didn’t see him after that.”
Then, some people came in informal clothes and made Biri Singh sign a paper. “They told me that my son was no more.”
However, the police claim otherwise. They said that even when Akash was lodged in the local jail, his family members came to meet him.
Akash’s relatives and neighbours are seething with anger. Ram Swaroop, a relative from Hathras, said that the police never took the family into confidence and hasn’t been communicating properly.
“The administration should have talked to the family and convinced them but this was not done. The police used force on his family instead [during protests]. The marks on the deceased’s body raise suspicion – a bike theft doesn’t warrant such beating,” said Swaroop while sitting on a mat outside Akash’s house.
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FIRs against protesters
On 21 June, when Akash’s body was being brought home after the post-mortem, more than 50 people, including Akash’s family members and neighbours, stopped the ambulance and started protesting at Humanyupur Chauraha. The police resorted to a lathi charge even as Akash’s body remained in the ambulance for several hours.
The police allege that protesters, who were demanding strict action against the officers involved, pelted them with stones, blocked the road and burned many private and government vehicles.
Ironically, two FIRs – accessed by ThePrint – have been registered against the protesters. One was filed by the ambulance driver whose vehicle was damaged, and names 11 people. The second FIR was filed by the police, naming 32 people and 20-25 unknown persons.
Both FIRs have been lodged under sections for rioting, attempt to murder, intentionally provoking breach of peace, and criminal intimidation, among others.
“No one has been arrested yet. The names of many people are yet to be included in the FIR and the names of many are yet to be removed. Action is underway, CCTV footage is still being examined,” said Inspector Yogendra Pal Singh.
Singh showed ThePrint the footage of the 21 June protest. “What kind of protesters are these who are even attacking an ambulance? Akash’s body was kept in that ambulance.”
Many police officers were allegedly injured during the stone-pelting, and received medical attention. Injured officers include City Magistrate Rajendra Prasad and Ramgarh Police Station in-charge Pradeep Kumar.
“Most of the protesters already have a police record. Right now, we are trying to gather all the information,” Yogendra Pal Singh said.
The victim’s family is demanding that the cases registered against protesters be withdrawn.
Akash’s mother and neighbours got injured in the lathi charge. Shakuntala still has a lathi mark on her left hand. “My son died and when we demanded justice, the police beat us,” she said, showing a deep blue mark.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)