A two-judge bench of the Bombay High Court on Monday upheld a 2022 special court order directing that eight police personnel stand trial for murder in the 2014 custodial death of 25-year-old Agnelo Valdaris.
The High Court observed, “Prima facie it appears that since Agnello was severally beaten up in the illegal police custody, he had sustained various injuries which were opined as more than 12 hours and 24 to 96 hours old.”
It further held that the officers were “involved in this episode” and that there was “no reason to treat the impugned order (of the special court) as illegal or erroneous.” Special court ordered trial for murder and outraging religious feelings among other offences.
Valdaris and three others, including a minor, were detained by the Wadala Government Railway Police on the night intervening of April 14 and 15, 2014, in connection with a theft case. Police had claimed that Valdaris died on April 18 after being hit by a train while allegedly escaping custody around 11 30 am.
However, the co-accused later alleged that they had been subjected to physical and sexual assault while in custody.
“The sexual abuse was so disgusting that one would not be able to imagine that such an insult may occur in police station under coercion by Police,” the bench observed on April 6.
The accused police personnel include then Senior Police Inspector Jitendra Ramnarayan Rathod, Assistant Police Inspector and Investigating Officer Archana Maruti Poojari, Police Sub Inspector Shatrughan Chuddappa Tondse, Head Constable Suresh Bapu Mane, and constables Ravindra Sukhdev Mane, Vikas Maruti Suryavanshi alias Ganya, Satyajeet Ajit Kamble and Tushar Kaval Khairnar.
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A bench of Justices Ajey S Gadkari and Shyam C Chandak, while hearing pleas by the accused, began its judgment by referring to author Lois McMaster Bujold’s words: “The dead cannot cry out for justice; it is a duty of the living to do so for them.”
The court noted that the case raised a “serious controversy” over whether the death was homicidal or accidental. It also flagged inconsistencies in the sequence of events, including the movement of Valdaris between police stations. “We are not able to see any justifiable reason behind this suspicious movement of Agnelo in the night,” the bench observed.
The Supreme Court had asked a division bench of the High Court to decide the matter after two of the HC’s single-judge benches passed conflicting judgments on challenges to the special court order of September 2022.
While framing of murder charges against seven accused was confirmed as they did not challenge the 2022 single-judge bench order within the time limit, Rathod had obtained relief from another single-judge bench in 2023.
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The High Court pointed to discrepancies between medical evidence, noting there was “no explanation… about the mismatch in medical report… and the postmortem report and as to why said old injuries appeared on Agnelo’s body within short time after his arrest.”
The court also expressed “surprise” over the “suspicious movement” of Agnelo being taken to Kurla Railway Police station at 1.10 am on April 18, 2014, kept in a lock-up, and later allegedly brought back to Wadala at 7.30 am without any entry in the Kurla lock-up register.
It also recorded that witnesses had delayed speaking out due to threats, stating, “The threatening to these witnesses was the reason for the delay in disclosing the torture suffered by them in police custody.”
The bench observed that since Valdaris had complained of torture to a doctor, the accused officers feared legal action and sought to control him.
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“But the tide did not turn in favour of the accused police officers as Agnelo died in the circumstances which were within the knowledge of the police officers,” it noted.
The court further observed that a case of murder could be made out, noting submissions that Valdaris may have run towards the train to escape further torture.
The investigation, initially conducted by the State CID, was transferred to the CBI in June 2014 on High Court orders. The CBI had filed a chargesheet excluding murder charges, invoking assault provisions and sections under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, as one of the detainees was a minor.
During the hearing, Advocate Rizwan Merchant for Rathod argued that the trial court had “completely failed” to consider the absence of evidence for murder. CBI counsel Kuldeep Patil also submitted that “no evidence surfaced showing that there was prima facie case” for murder under the IPC.
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However, advocates Yug Mohit Chaudhry and Payoshi Roy for the victim’s father, Leonard Valdaris, who worked as a foreman with the Mumbai Port Trust, argued that the material on record showed illegal detention, torture and threats.
After considering all submissions, the High Court upheld the trial court’s decision, clearing the way for murder charges to be framed against the eight police personnel.
