Give Rs 7L compensation for custodial death, says HHRC

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 5

Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC) on Friday recommended a compensation of Rs 7 lakh in a Panipat custodial death case of 2018.

Was Arrested for murder, dacoity

• Rajesh, who was arrested for murder and dacoity in 2018, died an “unnatural death due to his detention in CIA-II Panipat”.
• On December 11, 2018, Rajesh was arrested by Inspector Yogesh Kumar.
• In the night, he was taken to Civil Hospital, Panipat, where doctors referred him to PGIMS, Rohtak, due to his condition. He died at PGIMS on December 14, 2018.

A Bench comprising Justice SK Mittal (retd) and member Deep Bhatia observed that Rajesh, who was arrested for murder and dacoity in 2018, died an “unnatural death due to his detention in CIA-II Panipat”.

On December 11, 2018, Rajesh was arrested by Inspector Yogesh Kumar who is now facing the murder case for Rajesh’s death. In the night, he was taken to Civil Hospital, Panipat, where doctors referred him to PGIMS, Rohtak, due to his condition. He died at PGIMS on December 14, 2018.

It was the father of Rajesh, Rattan Singh, who had approached the HHRC for relief.

The Commission observed that after the perusal of treatment record, Dr Piyush Jain, from Department of Forensic Medicine, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, gave the cause of death as “Subacute Brain Infarction and its complications”.

He further stated that the injuries, which were seven in number, described in the post-mortem report were found to be antemortem and individually and cumulatively non-fatal.

“He (Rajesh) — at the time of his death — was 32-33 years of age having two children. Moreover, after his arrest, he was not produced before the Illaqa Magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest as is the requirement of law,” observed the Commission.

“The death of an accused/prisoner in jail/police custody is not a temporary phase but has created a long-lasting impact on the lives of the victim’s family members,” said the HHRC.

While granting compensation of Rs 7 lakh, the Bench said that the state government would be entitled to recover the amount from “wrongdoers Inspector Yogesh and his accomplices”.

“It is also recommended that the case of murder against Inspector Yogesh and other accused be got conducted from a senior police officer having impeccable integrity and character besides carrying out departmental proceedings,” said the order.

The Commission said, “It may also be mentioned here that any statement made by a person before a police officer during criminal investigation exonerating culpability of an accused named in the FIR should not be taken as a hurdle in nailing the perpetrator,” and ordered for sending the copy of the order to Chief Secretary, Haryana, for disbursal of compensation within eight weeks.