NEW DELHI: A sessions court in Maharashtra has provided partial relief to five policemen involved in a custodial death case by temporarily suspending key findings of a magistrate’s inquiry report.
The case involves the death of Akshay Shinde, a school attendant accused of sexual assault, who was killed in an alleged police encounter on September 23, 2023, while being transported from Taloja prison for questioning.
Additional sessions judge D R Deshpande issued the order on February 21, keeping specific findings of the magistrate’s report in abeyance while allowing the ongoing Crime Investigation Department (CID) probe to continue independently.
Akshay Shinde was arrested in August 2024 for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls in a school toilet in Badlapur, Thane district, where he worked as an attendant.
Police claimed Shinde was killed in retaliatory fire after he snatched a gun from one of the officers and opened fire while being transported in a police van from Taloja prison.
The incident involved senior police inspector Sanjay Shinde, who fired the fatal shot, along with assistant police inspector Nilesh More, two constables, and a police driver.
The magistrate’s report had indicted all five policemen, questioning their claims of self-defense and suggesting they could have controlled the situation without using lethal force.
“The effect and operation of the findings of the magistrate, particularly the concluding paragraphs 81 and 82, is kept in abeyance till the next day,” stated the court in its order.
The suspended paragraphs specifically questioned the justification of force used and highlighted suspicions about the encounter’s authenticity, especially when considered alongside forensic reports.
The five police personnel filed a revision application with the Thane sessions court earlier this month, challenging the magistrate’s findings.
Their application argued that the magistrate exceeded their jurisdiction, as such inquiries should only determine the cause of death in custodial cases, not assign responsibility.
Special public prosecutor Ajay Misar informed the court that the state CID’s investigation was proceeding independently of the magistrate’s inquiry.
“These five police persons were present at the time of the encounter. There are a number of grounds that raise suspicion over the alleged encounter. Therefore, these five police persons are responsible for the death,” the magistrate’s report had concluded.
The sessions court emphasized that the deceased’s family must be given adequate opportunity to respond to the revision application.
While suspending the report’s findings, the court clarified that the CID investigation would continue unimpeded.
The police officials have been directed to include the accused’s parents as respondents in their application, with the next hearing scheduled for March 5.
The magistrate’s report also offered recommendations for preventing similar incidents in the future, maintaining that the encounter raised multiple grounds for suspicion.
As per legal requirements, a magisterial inquiry is mandatory in all cases involving deaths in police or judicial custody.
The five policemen were escorting Shinde for questioning in relation to a case filed by his wife when the alleged encounter occurred.
The court’s decision to keep the findings in abeyance specifically affects two crucial paragraphs that questioned the legitimacy of the police’s actions and supported the family’s claims of a fake encounter.