What the ‘custodial death’ of a man from the Pardhi community says about India’s policing practices

July 14 was supposed to be Deva Pardhi’s wedding day. But hours before the ceremony, the 25-year-old was dead.

The police in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh, who had taken Pardhi and his uncle into custody that evening in connection with a case of theft, claimed that he had died of a heart attack.

According to the police, Pardhi said he was suffering from chest pain and was taken to a local hospital but since there was no doctor there, he was referred to the district hospital. Additional Superintendent of Police Maan Singh Thakur told The Hindu that a doctor treated Pardhi for 45 minutes but he died.

Pardhi’s family, however, has said he was tortured in custody. “The police hanged them upside down, tied a black cloth on their mouths and started beating them,” a family member told Scroll over the phone. A police investigation has been initiated and a postmortem is being conducted.

The Pardhi community to which Deva Pardhi is classified as a Denotified Tribe or a Vimukta Jati. In 1871, the Pardhis were among the tribes notified as “hereditary and habitual criminals” under the colonial-era Criminal Tribes Act. After Independence, the Indian government “denotified” these communities in 1952.

Pardhi’s death was just one among a long line of incidents...

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