HC directs Amreli SP to supervise Dalit death case

According to the details of the case, the deceased, Arjan Bamaniya, a driver by profession from Ghantvad village of Junagadh district, went missing on September 6, 2007, after two of his employers, Ramsing Vala and Kalu Vala, had allegedly taken him to drive a truck against his wish.

When he did not return home, his family started searching for him. The next day, they were asked by the police to identify a dead body recovered from a well in a village in Amreli district. 8220;The Amreli police had filed a case of accidental death saying that Arjan had committed suicide in the well out of fear, as the truck he was driving had met with a fatal road accident. Subsequent police investigation, however, revealed nothing to prove this claim,8221; said Valjibhai Patel, secretary of Council for Social Justice, a voluntary organisation working for the welfare of the down-trodden.

8220;The police did not even do the panchnama of the said truck, nor did it record the statement of the cleaner of the truck,8221; added Patel, who helped Arjan8217;s brother, Babu, a farm labourer, to file a writ petition in the High Court against the police investigation in the case.

Announcing the order on the petition, Justice D H Waghela also gave the petitioner 8220;the liberty to file fresh petition at the appropriate stage, if necessary8221;.