The death of a Scheduled Caste man in police custody in Karnataka’s Kalaburagi has sparked protests, with the family alleging that the police threatened them into cremating the deceased man’s body.
Krishna Vittal Rathod, belonging to the Banjara community, allegedly died in police custody in Kalaburagi on Sunday, February 23, after allegedly being tortured at the Roza Police Station. His family and others staged a protest in front of the police station on Monday.
Ramachandra Jadhav, head of the Banjara Vidyavardhaka Sangha which participated in the protests, told TNM that the Roza police picked up Krishna in connection with the kidnapping of a woman six days ago. “The police tortured him for several days demanding he show them where the kidnapped woman’s body was,” Ramachandra said.
According to Ramachandra, Krishna’s family last saw him around 6 pm on Sunday. “Early on Monday, around 3 am, the police went to his house, woke up his mother Lalitabai and brother Bheema and brought them to the police station. They were shown Krishna’s body around 10 am and forced to sign on a blank sheet of paper. They were then forced to cremate the body on Monday noon.”
Ramachandra alleged that the police threatened to book Lalitabai and Bheema in double murder cases if they did not do as they were told.
Ramachandra said that a delegation of people from the Sangha had met Kalaburagi Police Commissioner Sharanappa SD demanding action against the police officers involved. “We don’t want something like this to happen to anyone,” he said.
Multiple calls to Police Commissioner Sharanappa went unanswered.
According to National Human Rights Commission guidelines issued in 1997, when a death occurs in police custody, an FIR must be filed against all the police personnel involved and the case must be investigated by a specialised investigating agency.
In May 2024, an angry mob vandalised the Channagiri police station in Davangere district after a man named Adil died at the police station after being brought in on gambling charges. The Criminal Investigation Department later took over the investigation of the case.
In December 2024, a Bengaluru court convicted four police personnel for torturing a man to death. Mahendra Singh Rathod died at the Jeevanbhimanagar police station in March 2016.