Multiple custodial killings in Guna District, Central India, have become disturbingly normalised, prompting the Criminal Justice and Police Accountability Project (CPA Project) to investigate local policing patterns. Their report, “Everyday Policing in Guna, Madhya Pradesh,” analysed 20,705 arrest records from 2019 to 2024 across 18 police stations using publicly available police data.

The findings reveal systemic discrimination in policing practices. An overwhelming 71.7% of arrests targeted individuals from oppressed caste or tribal communities—a massive over-representation when compared to their actual population in Guna District. Particularly concerning is that 15.09% of all arrests involved members of Denotified Tribes, communities historically marginalised by colonial-era criminal laws.

Perhaps most troubling, 73% of arrests involved petty offences where arrest was not legally mandatory according to Supreme Court guidelines established in Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar. This suggests widespread misuse of police powers, disproportionately affecting India’s most vulnerable communities and contributing to a pattern of discriminatory law enforcement that may be connected to the district’s custodial violence incidents.