Police to probe all unnatural deaths

The district administration at Jawhar on Friday directed the police to investigate all cases of unnatural deaths that have occurred in the taluka since January.

The district administration at Jawhar on Friday directed the police to investigate all cases of unnatural deaths that have occurred in the taluka since January.

HT Image

The directive comes after Hindustan Times, in its September 22 edition, reported the suicide of a poverty-stricken tribal farmer and quoted social workers saying that there are many suicides in the tribal community that are being registered as accidental deaths.

On September 15, Sitaram Pandu Gavanda (28) had committed suicide in his hut in Chondipada village in Jawhar. Jawhar, 150 km north of Mumbai and a three-hour drive, is home to 1.27 lakh people, of whom 90 per cent are poor tribals.

The suicide was not reported to the police and villagers cremated his body after consulting the police patil (the administrative contact in the village) as his family could not afford the cost of transporting his body to and from the hospital.

Kishore Jadhav, additional collector, said the Jawhar police have been ordered to investigate all 38 unnatural/accidental deaths reported since January and determine the cause of each of these deaths. “The inquiry will be conducted by a police sub-inspector who will look at every case and prepare reports on the reason behind the deaths,” he said.

Of the 38 cases, 24 have been classified as accidental deaths (drowning, heart attack, unknown reasons), while eight are unnatural (poisoning) deaths. Only six cases were mentioned as suicides. “All these cases will be revisited,” Jadhav said.

Meanwhile, Vivek Pandit, an independent MLA from Vasai, visited Chondipada on Friday and met Gavanda’s family.

He also interacted with villagers to understand why Gavanda killed himself. “What I gathered is that the suicide was driven by abject poverty and nothing else,” he said.

Corroborating HT’s report, Pandit said Gavanda’s protracted illness had worsened the family’s financial condition.

“I will meet the chief minister and submit a memorandum to him, highlighting the plight of tribals in the area as well as the Gavanda family,” he said, claiming that at least 20 tribals from Jawhar had committed suicide “in the last few months” because of poverty.