About six days after he was allegedly “assaulted” and his e-rickshaw “damaged” by kanwariyas for brushing against a kanwar in Muzaffarnagar’s Khatauli, e-rickshaw driver Mohit Kumar died on July 28. But no FIR was filed as the police claimed he died due to chest pain due to a pre-existing condition, and as his family had neither lodged a complaint nor wanted a post-mortem.

The family, on the other hand, has alleged that the police “took advantage of their poverty and illiteracy” to hush up the matter. They claimed it was the police who “forced” them to sign a Rs 10 stamp paper stating that Kumar’s “death was due to an existing illness” and that “post-mortem was not required”.

While the specific cause of Kumar’s death remains unclear, the police ostensibly failed to push for a clear diagnosis, be it on the day of the assault or after the death. On the day of the assault, a community hospital which administered preliminary treatment had referred Kumar to a district hospital for detailed check-up and X-ray scans of the skull, leg, and ankle. But the family never went to the district hospital and brought him home. And after Kumar’s death, police accepted the family’s note on a stamp paper saying they did not want a postmortem. 

The absence of an FIR, meanwhile, comes amid several allegations about police inaction against violations of the law during the kanwar yatra. 

July 23: The day of the accident and ‘assault’ 

Kumar, a Dalit resident of Raipur Nangli village who had been driving his e-rickshaw in Khatauli for the past nine months, was the youngest of five brothers and had studied up to class 7. 

He was “badly beaten” after his vehicle bumped against a kanwariya on road on July 23, alleged his family.   

His brother Vakil Kumar told Newslaundry, “we got a call from someone that your brother is admitted in the government hospital of Khatauli. By the time we reached there, the police had gotten him bandaged.” 

Newslaundry went through Kumar’s medical records from the community hospital in Khatauli. It stated that he was given three medicines – one for pain, another for gastritis, and an antibiotic. His wounds were bandaged and he was referred to the district hospital for three X-ray scans.

But Kumar was brought home. Vakil claimed the family thought “these are minor injuries and he will be fine”, but on coming home, “we came to know that he had deep injuries. After this, we got him treated by the village doctor for five days. Mohit also told us that he was beaten badly by the kanwariyas and had injuries all over his body.”

CO Khatauli Ramashish Yadav, who was present at the time of the alleged assault, told Newslaundry that the family did not give any written complaint that day, so no case was registered.

Kumar’s family members told Newslaundry that he had been only eating tea and biscuits since the day of his assault. “He had almost stopped eating and drinking,” said his sister Neelam. 

What happened on July 28?

Neelam claimed that on the day of his death, he “complained of pain in his whole body”. “The family initially took him to a local doctor in Bhaansi village, about two kilometres away from their village. From there, we took him to Khatauli district hospital, where he was declared dead. The police also reached there.”

While the family’s stamp paper claimed they did not want a postmortem and that he died of pre-existing illness, the family claimed before the media that Kumar’s postmortem was “stopped” by the police and that he died due to an assault by kanwariyas. 

The body was handed over to the family. “Mohit had a bandage tied at three places on one leg. There were blue marks on the rest of the body, and the marks of the sticks were also clearly visible," claimed Vakil.

The Muzaffarnagar police then issued a clarification on social media, which they later deleted. The police wrote, “This statement is false and baseless that the e-rickshaw driver was beaten up by the kanwariyas due to side-swiping, which led to his death…Mohit's e-rickshaw collided with the kanwariyas. After which he tried to run away from the spot and his e-rickshaw went out of control and overturned. After this, the kanwariyas beat him up. Mohit had minor injuries, he went home after first aid from the hospital.”

It further said, “On the night of July 28, Mohit had severe pain in his chest. He was taken to the hospital by his family for treatment. Where he was declared dead. Mohit's family said that he died due to his pre-existing illness. No legal action is required.”

‘No complaint as we didn’t want to get into trouble’

Kumar’s family has alleged that the police “forced them to sign on the Rs 10 stamp paper” stating that he died of an existing illness, and that there were “three names written on this stamp paper” but only Arjun, one of Kumar’s brothers, had signed. 

Arjun told Newslaundry that “a constable took me along on a motorcycle to get the stamp. There, the constable got it typed and got all this written. The stamp was available for Rs 25, for which I also paid.”

Vakil Kumar alleged that Kumar did not have any existing illness and “all this is wrong”. “We are simple people, not educated. We got it written as per the instructions of the police. My siblings are illiterate, they didn’t write anything. To protect themselves, the police made them write that they don’t want a postmortem and that they don’t want to take any action. They also made them write that he was already ill. Whereas all this is wrong. Mohit didn’t have any illness at all.”

He claimed that initially, they did not lodge a written complaint “because they did not want to get into any trouble”. “Earlier, in separate accidents, my mother and a nephew died in road accidents. We had filed cases and eventually nothing was found. We received no compensation as well. Due to this, we had decided not to take any action."

His sister Neelam claimed, “Mohit used to drive an e-rickshaw, so how did he become ill? We are illiterate… We wrote down whatever the police told us. We did not know that the police are protecting themselves by doing this.”

‘Culpable homicide, police should have conducted postmortem’ 

Supreme Court lawyer Asghar Khan said this was a case of culpable homicide and that the “police should have taken action on their own in this case”.

“There is no role of 10 or 20 rupee stamp paper in this. If something had to be written, they could have written it on plain paper as well. But the stamp was used to add heft…In such cases, it is necessary for the police to conduct a postmortem. If this was a case of road accident or death due to illness in the hospital, then it could have happened that the postmortem would not have been done on the request of the family. But since this was a case related to an assault, the police should have conducted the postmortem.”

Meanwhile, Khatauli CO Ram Ashish Yadav denied the family’s allegations. “The family did not write any complaint. That is why we could not keep the dead body…we had asked for a postmortem but the family refused and wrote that we don't want it. We could not force the family. If the family had given us a complaint, we would have definitely taken action.”

He asked “on what basis will we register a complaint when we do not have any evidence. How will we prove how the person died?” On the social media note on the incident deleted, he said that he is “not aware of it because all this happens from the district headquarters”.

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