A thirty-five-year-old agricultural laborer from Chhattisgarh who never had access to formal education has achieved a major legal victory against administrative apathy by pursuing her husband's custodial death case up to the Supreme Court. Lehra Bai, a resident of Mohra village in Bilaspur district, works in agricultural fields to provide for her two young daughters. She earns roughly Rs 300 per day as wages, with work available only intermittently. Despite severe financial distress and lack of literacy, she refused to accept impunity for her husband's death in custody, pursuing legal avenues until the country's highest court intervened with strict directives.
The Arrest and Excise Act Allegations
The sequence of events began on January 18, 2024, when personnel from the Sipat police station arrived at Mohra village and took thirty-four-year-old Shravan Suryavanshi Tamre into custody. Police authorities registered a case against him under Section 34(2) of the Chhattisgarh Excise Act, alleging unlawful possession of 6 liters of mahua liquor valued at approximately Rs 1,200. According to Lehra Bai, the police forcibly placed her husband into their official vehicle. At the time, the family assumed that Shravan would secure release within a day or two following routine questioning, as had happened in previous minor disputes, but he never returned home.
Hospitalization, Death, and Medical Findings
On the late night of January 21, the family received word that Shravan had been admitted to the Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in Bilaspur following a sudden decline in his health. Relatives rushed to the facility, but family members alleged that police personnel stationed on the premises barred them from seeing Shravan. Soon afterward, they were informed of his death. Hospital documentation recorded the official time of death as 6:00 AM on January 22. A subsequent post-mortem examination proved crucial in contradicting routine claims. The medical autopsy reported that Shravan suffered cardio-respiratory arrest brought on by a traumatic head injury and its clinical complications. The medical examiner also noted several external contusions and injuries across his body, directly pointing toward physical assault.
The Journey from High Court to the Supreme Court
Following the tragedy, advocate Rajiv Kumar Dubey agreed to represent Lehra Bai pro bono, taking up her petition without charging legal fees. In August 2024, a writ petition was submitted before the High Court of Chhattisgarh. Delivering its verdict in December 2024, the High Court recognized administrative negligence and directed the state to pay Rs 1 lakh in compensation. Lehra Bai found this amount profoundly unjust in light of the loss of life and resolved to appeal before the Supreme Court.
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta reviewed the matter and held that the Rs 1 lakh compensation awarded by the High Court was completely insufficient. The bench expressed deep dissatisfaction over the lack of prompt accountability and criminal proceedings against the police officers involved in the custodial demise. The apex court raised the interim relief to Rs 25 lakh, ordering the state administration to disburse the payment to the aggrieved family.
Strict Judicial Rebuke for Senior Bureaucrats
The Supreme Court made sharp observations regarding the conduct of the then Director General of Police (DGP) of Chhattisgarh, the Director General of Prisons, and the Principal Secretary of the Home Department. The bench explicitly rejected claims by senior officials that they were unaware of the findings in the judicial inquiry report into the death. The court characterized the then DGP's statements as untruthful and reprehensible. Consequently, the judges directed a comprehensive investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alongside criminal proceedings against the personnel deemed responsible. During a subsequent hearing on October 13, the CBI was granted an extension of three months to conclude its probe, with the next court hearing listed for February 2, 2027.
Parental Aspirations Amid Continued Hardship
Lehra Bai is now solely responsible for raising her two daughters, thirteen-year-old Sandhya and eleven-year-old Sakshi. She recalls that Shravan harbored ambitious goals for both girls, consistently expressing a desire that they study hard to become either medical doctors or district collectors. Following his untimely demise, the household faces heightened economic uncertainty. Meanwhile, Shravan's father, Amritlal, has also raised claims for a portion of the compensation amount. For Lehra Bai, however, the primary objective remains legal justice, noting that determining appropriate criminal penalties for those responsible remains the duty of the state and the judiciary.
