2014 death of Agnelo Valdaris: Father’s fight for justice in son’s custodial death continues

Although vindicated by the court’s decision, he is haunted by what-ifs – whether he could have done something differently to keep his son alive.

MUMBAI: On Monday, Leonard Valdaris, 63, got what he had waited 12 years for, when the Bombay High Court upheld a sessions court’s order that could put eight police officers on trial for his son’s homicidal death in custody. Agnelo was just 24 when he was arrested for theft and died just three days later after he was allegedly beaten by law-enforcement officers.

2014 death of Agnelo Valdaris: Father’s fight for justice in son’s custodial death continues

Although vindicated by the court’s decision, he is haunted by what-ifs – whether he could have done something differently to keep his son alive. Certain that Agnelo could have done no wrong, he had turned him in, trusting he would be cleared of the theft charges.

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Two days later, on April 17, 2014, Leonard was by his son’s bedside in the civic-run Sion Hospital, where he was being treated for injuries. He scolded his son for keeping bad company but told him everything would be all right. A day later, Agnelo succumbed to the injuries allegedly suffered in police custody.

For the Valdarises, life would never be the same. Leonard’s already troubled marriage broke down and his wife left him, even as he pursued justice on his own. “I am going to fight till the end. I have to look after myself because if something happens to me, who will fight for my son?” says Leonard, a retired foreman at the Mumbai Port Authority (MbPA).

On Monday, Justices A S Gadkari and Shyam Chandak upheld a September 2022 sessions court order, which concluded that Agnelo’s death was homicidal, not accidental. Stating that the murder charge would apply to the accused police officers, the high court said, “Prima facie, it appears that since Agnello was severely beaten up in illegal police custody, he had sustained various injuries which were opined as more than 12 hours and 24 to 96 hours old.”

Agnelo and three others, including one minor, were arrested by the Wadala Government Railway Police (GRP) on April 14-15, 2014, in an alleged case of theft. All four were allegedly beaten in custody. To explain his injuries, the GRP officials on April 18, 2014, claimed that Agnelo had been run over by a train while escaping from custody.

Leonard filed a petition before the Bombay High Court in 2014 seeking an investigation into Agnelo’s custodial death. Later, the high court transferred the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and also directed that the accused police officers be booked under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, as one of the victims was a minor.

A day before Agnelo died, Leonard visited him in hospital after the police failed to produce him before a magistrate a day after his arrest, even as they produced two of the co-accused. “He had bandages on his hand. I saw the injuries. He was beaten,” says Leonard.

“I saw him last on April 17, 2014, in the hospital. He told me he was hungry but I was annoyed with him. I had always told him not to keep bad company. But he said, ‘Daddy, they’ll finish me off.’ I told him he had nothing to worry about because he had done no wrong. But I also used some harsh words and I repent that,” says Leonard.

A retired government servant, Leonard had been a panch witness for CBI raids in a few cases. He says he believes in the law and in cooperating with law-enforcement agencies, but since Agnelo’s death, the sight of policemen unsettles him.

Leonard and his wife have been separated for about nine years. His younger son moved out with his mother from their government quarters in Reay Road. “Since the day Agnelo died, she has called me a murderer. She blames me for his death,” says Leonard. His marriage was already strained but Agnelo would make his parents “patch up”.

Agnelo’s grandmother Grace Valdaris, 83, lies on a bed in her one-room tenement in Dharavi, frail and recovering from a fall. She reaches under the bed to pull out a picture of Agnelo that she keeps close to her. When his family lived in Reay Road, Agnelo moved to Dharavi to live with his ageing grandparents, to look after them. After Agnelo’s death, Leonard moved in with them.

“Last year, before my father died, he asked me how long I would keep fighting for my son. After he died, I wondered whether I should withdraw my case. My son was gone anyway,” says Leonard. But he stayed the course on the advice of a few friends and his lawyers. “The system moves slowly but one has to cope with it. You have to stay determined,” he says.

Agnelo, who had studied up to Class 10, worked in a private firm doing odd jobs. Like many men his age, he ate well, worked out, dressed well and dreamt of moving to Singapore. “He would spend hours talking to his fiancée on the phone. They met online and she came from a Tamil family in Singapore. He wanted to marry her and settle there,” says Leonard.

The high court’s decision has paved the way for the police officers to stand trial for murder, unless they challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court. Leonard hopes the trial begins soon. “Even if it takes longer, I will wait. I will keep fighting and see this through,” he says.