The role of the Odisha Police has come under a cloud over the lynching of a 32-year-old Government Railway Police (GRP) constable on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, with his family accusing police personnel of failing to stop the assault.
Soumya Ranjan Swain was beaten to death, 16 km from home at Moujapur in Cuttack, after the motorcycle he was riding pillion on collided with a scooter near a small bridge in Balianta area near the state capital. The two women on the scooter accused Swain of trying to sexually assault them, which is when the assembled mob of about 40-50 people beat up him and his friend, who was driving. The friend, Om Prakash Rout, escaped with minor injuries.
Dushasan Swain, 58, said Soumya – his only child after he lost a daughter a few years ago – left home around 10:15 am on May 7, promising to return soon. Instead, he got a call around 11.30 am from an acquaintance, who told him what had happened. “We rushed to the spot and then to Capital Hospital, but Soumya had already been declared dead,” Dushasan told The Indian Express, saying videos of the assault that went viral showed the 32-year-old was treated like an “animal” and carted to the Community Health Centre on a trolley tethered to a mini-truck with his hands and feet tied to an iron pole. From there, he was taken to Capital Hospital by an ambulance.
His appeals that he was innocent and even for some water to drink were ignored, Dushasan says, adding that they are yet to receive the post-mortem report.
Four junior police officials have been suspended for alleged failure to stop the mob lynching while the inspector-in-charge of the Balianta Police Station has been transferred.
The Balianta police has registered an FIR, on Dushasan’s complaint, under Sections covering assault and common intention (to commit a crime), and have arrested 12 people. On questions over why a case had not been registered under Section 103 (2) of the BNS dealing with mob lynching, the DG of Crime Branch, which is investigating the case, Vinaytosh Mishra, said its provisions did not apply to Swain’s killing.
“If more than five people assault anybody for their race, caste, community, place of birth, sex, language or personal beliefs, then the mob lynching Section can be invoked. In this particular FIR, no such allegations were made. But if we find this during the probe, we will invoke the Section,” Mishra told reporters Monday.
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Police have also registered a case of attempt to rape against Swain, based on the complaint of the two women on the scooter.
While being employed as a GRP constable, Swain, a Commerce graduate, ran a gym centre in Moujapur. He and Rout met during a gym session.
Dushasan, who used to run a small grocery shop which he shut after Swain got the GRP job, said his son was under stress because investments he had made in new gyms in nearby towns had not taken off. In 2021, a woman he was in a relationship with accused Swain of sexual assault, following which he was arrested and spent 12 days behind bars. This led to his suspension from the GRP for three months. The case is still sub-judice.
Dushasan says things were more stable recently. “He would always tell me everything is fine. Since my daughter died a few years back, Soumya was our only hope and the lone earning member of the family.”
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The 58-year-old says he finds it hard to believe what is being said about Swain, calling it a “plot to defame him after the incident”. “How can we believe he was trying to misbehave with a woman on the road in broad daylight?… Even if there is some truth to the allegations, who gave the accused the right to assault anyone?… Let the women who have made the allegations undergo a polygraph test.”
Rout, 23, who was driving the motorcycle, says he collided with the scooter the women were on entirely by accident, as he lost control. “We all fell down,” he says, adding that Swain got into an argument with the two women, which attracted a crowd.
“When the matter escalated, Soumya tried to flee into a field, but fell down. The mob followed and continued assaulting him. A PCR vehicle came with three police personnel, but they didn’t try to rescue him. Had the PCR staff made an effort, Soumya’s life would have been saved,” says Raut.
A person who was at the spot that day told The Indian Express that Swain resisted arrest. “When police tried to put him into the PCR vehicle, he abused and tried to overpower them. A police officer then told the people to tie his legs and hands and to put him in a tractor trolley to take him to the hospital.”
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However, he blames police “inaction” for the assault continuing and leading to Swain’s death. “Had police intervened, things would not have reached this extent,” the person said.
The two women, who are friends and live not far from where the incident occurred, have told police they had never met Swain or Rout before that day. Headed to a relative’s house on the scooter, they sustained injuries when they fell on the road. Soon after, as per the women, Swain grabbed one of them and hit her hard, causing her to lose consciousness.
Police made the arrests on the basis of the videos circulated on social media of the incident, with the accused mostly from the nearby localities of Balianta, Benupur, Balikanthia, Gadabhingarpur, Ramachandrapur and Duladeisahi. They are in the age group of 22 to 48, and as per police, either do odd jobs or run small businesses.
A Crime Branch official said they are investigating claims that some of the accused were drunk, and to identify the others who can be seen in the incident’s videos. “More arrests will follow,” the official said.
