diff --git a/parquet/metadata/row_group.go b/parquet/metadata/row_group.go
index b578e343a..1c698fc88 100644
--- a/parquet/metadata/row_group.go
+++ b/parquet/metadata/row_group.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"reflect"
 
+	"github.com/apache/arrow-go/v18/arrow"
 	"github.com/apache/arrow-go/v18/parquet"
 	"github.com/apache/arrow-go/v18/parquet/internal/encryption"
 	format "github.com/apache/arrow-go/v18/parquet/internal/gen-go/parquet"
@@ -79,8 +80,8 @@ func (r *RowGroupMetaData) Ordinal() int16 { return r.rowGroup.GetOrdinal() }
 
 // ColumnChunk returns the metadata for the requested (0-based) chunk index
 func (r *RowGroupMetaData) ColumnChunk(i int) (*ColumnChunkMetaData, error) {
-	if i >= r.NumColumns() {
-		panic(fmt.Errorf("parquet: the file only has %d columns, requested metadata for column: %d", r.NumColumns(), i))
+	if i < 0 || i >= r.NumColumns() {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: parquet file only has %d columns, requested metadata for column %d", arrow.ErrIndex, r.NumColumns(), i)
 	}
 
 	return NewColumnChunkMetaData(r.rowGroup.Columns[i], r.Schema.Column(i), r.version, r.rowGroup.GetOrdinal(), int16(i), r.fileDecryptor)
@@ -95,6 +96,9 @@ func (r *RowGroupMetaData) SortingColumns() []parquet.SortingColumn {
 // directly from the underlying thrift struct, avoiding the overhead of
 // constructing a full ColumnChunkMetaData.
 func (r *RowGroupMetaData) ColumnIndexLocation(i int) (IndexLocation, bool) {
+	if i < 0 || i >= r.NumColumns() {
+		return IndexLocation{}, false
+	}
 	col := r.rowGroup.Columns[i]
 	if col.IsSetColumnIndexOffset() {
 		return IndexLocation{
@@ -109,6 +113,9 @@ func (r *RowGroupMetaData) ColumnIndexLocation(i int) (IndexLocation, bool) {
 // directly from the underlying thrift struct, avoiding the overhead of
 // constructing a full ColumnChunkMetaData.
 func (r *RowGroupMetaData) OffsetIndexLocation(i int) (IndexLocation, bool) {
+	if i < 0 || i >= r.NumColumns() {
+		return IndexLocation{}, false
+	}
 	col := r.rowGroup.Columns[i]
 	if col.IsSetOffsetIndexOffset() {
 		return IndexLocation{
diff --git a/parquet/metadata/row_group_bounds_test.go b/parquet/metadata/row_group_bounds_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..489777e3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parquet/metadata/row_group_bounds_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+// Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+// or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+// distributed with this work for additional information
+// regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+// to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+// "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+// with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package metadata_test
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/apache/arrow-go/v18/arrow"
+	"github.com/apache/arrow-go/v18/parquet"
+	format "github.com/apache/arrow-go/v18/parquet/internal/gen-go/parquet"
+	"github.com/apache/arrow-go/v18/parquet/metadata"
+	"github.com/apache/arrow-go/v18/parquet/schema"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestRowGroupColumnIndexBounds(t *testing.T) {
+	columnIndexOffset, columnIndexLength := int64(100), int32(10)
+	offsetIndexOffset, offsetIndexLength := int64(200), int32(20)
+	primitive := schema.Must(schema.NewPrimitiveNode(
+		"value", parquet.Repetitions.Required, parquet.Types.Int32, -1, -1,
+	))
+	parquetSchema := schema.MustGroup(schema.NewGroupNode(
+		"schema", parquet.Repetitions.Required, schema.FieldList{primitive}, -1,
+	))
+	rowGroup := metadata.NewRowGroupMetaData(
+		&format.RowGroup{Columns: []*format.ColumnChunk{{
+			MetaData: &format.ColumnMetaData{
+				Type:         format.Type_INT32,
+				Encodings:    []format.Encoding{format.Encoding_PLAIN},
+				PathInSchema: []string{"value"},
+			},
+			ColumnIndexOffset: &columnIndexOffset,
+			ColumnIndexLength: &columnIndexLength,
+			OffsetIndexOffset: &offsetIndexOffset,
+			OffsetIndexLength: &offsetIndexLength,
+		}}},
+		schema.NewSchema(parquetSchema),
+		nil,
+		nil,
+	)
+
+	_, err := rowGroup.ColumnChunk(-1)
+	require.ErrorIs(t, err, arrow.ErrIndex)
+	_, err = rowGroup.ColumnChunk(1)
+	require.ErrorIs(t, err, arrow.ErrIndex)
+	column, err := rowGroup.ColumnChunk(0)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.NotNil(t, column)
+
+	_, ok := rowGroup.ColumnIndexLocation(-1)
+	require.False(t, ok)
+	_, ok = rowGroup.ColumnIndexLocation(1)
+	require.False(t, ok)
+	location, ok := rowGroup.ColumnIndexLocation(0)
+	require.True(t, ok)
+	require.Equal(t, metadata.IndexLocation{Offset: columnIndexOffset, Length: columnIndexLength}, location)
+
+	_, ok = rowGroup.OffsetIndexLocation(-1)
+	require.False(t, ok)
+	_, ok = rowGroup.OffsetIndexLocation(1)
+	require.False(t, ok)
+	location, ok = rowGroup.OffsetIndexLocation(0)
+	require.True(t, ok)
+	require.Equal(t, metadata.IndexLocation{Offset: offsetIndexOffset, Length: offsetIndexLength}, location)
+}