Dalit youth’s death in UP police station raises fresh questions over custodial safety
Family questions circumstances of death as police maintain suicide claim
Lucknow: In another case raising concerns over custodial safety in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, a 22-year-old Dalit youth was found dead inside a police station in Pratapgarh district, with his family saying that he died after being beaten in custody, while police claimed that he died by suicide.
Arjun Gautam, a resident of Molnapur, was brought to the Patti police station on Sunday for questioning in connection with a case involving the alleged abduction of a teenage girl. His body was found hanging in the toilet of the investigation room the following day. Police said he had hanged himself using a blanket.
The girl’s brother had initially filed an FIR against Arjun in July, accusing him of abducting his sister, India’s Maktoob Media reported. However, police later recovered the girl from Hyderabad, where she reportedly told a court that she had left home after being scolded by her family. Following her statement, no criminal case was established against Arjun at the time. The girl’s father, however, lodged another FIR against Arjun in August, alleging that he had abducted his daughter. Acting on the complaint, Patti police traced Arjun and brought him to the police station on Sunday.
Arjun’s family said that he was beaten by police and that they were not allowed to meet him. They have also questioned why he was taken to a medical college around 25 kilometres away after he was found unconscious, instead of a community health centre located about 700 metres from the police station.
The family has further said that his postmortem was conducted without their knowledge and demanded that the CCTV footage from the police station and the incident site be secured and that the circumstances leading to his death be independently investigated.
Police have maintained that Arjun died by suicide. Additional Superintendent of Police Alok Kumar said Arjun went to the toilet on the pretext of relieving himself and hanged himself there.
Pratapgarh Superintendent of Police Deepak Bhuker suspended Patti station house officer Anand Pal Singh and sub-inspector Omkar Singh for dereliction of duty. Police said CCTV footage and other important evidence had been secured as part of the investigation.
The District Magistrate of Pratapgarh has recommended a magisterial inquiry into the incident. Authorities said further legal and departmental action would be taken on the basis of the evidence gathered during the investigation.
Bhim Army chief and Nagina MP Chandrashekhar Azad called for a high-level and impartial investigation into the death. “Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ji, several serious questions are arising in this case,” Azad said, questioning how Arjun “in custody got hold of a blanket” and “how could one possibly hang oneself with a blanket”, and called for the questions to be answered through an impartial investigation.
Cases involving the deaths of detained youth, particularly from minority communities, inside police stations have been reported in India, raising concerns over custodial safety and police accountability. According to data shared by the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs in Parliament in March, 170 custodial death cases were reported across India between January 1 and March 15, 2026, based on information compiled by the National Human Rights Commission. Also, 140 cases were recorded in 2024–25, 157 cases in 2023–24, 163 in 2022–23 and 176 in 2021–22.
