Chennai: Custodial deaths under scanner

CHENNAI: Coming down heavily on authorities for not dealing with the issue of 137 custodial deaths for 2012-13 properly, the Madras high court has called upon the additional home secretary to put forth all material before the member secretary, Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority (TNSLSA), who would examine this issue and submit a report to court about the status of 109 cases.

Passing interim orders on a petition from advocate K. Kesavan , which sought a direction to home secretary to hold a judicial enquiry into deaths of prisoners during 2012 and 2013, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M. M. Sundresh said a perusal of rejoinder affidavit filed on behalf of home secretary and DGP showed a shocking state of affairs.

 “We are dealing with the issue of 137 custodial deaths for 2012-13-more than three years old and more than two years old. It is only in three cases compensation has been sanctioned, while disciplinary proceedings have been initiated in two cases and 22 cases have been dropped from further action”, the Bench added.

The bench said the position qua the remaining cases is set out in the rejoinder affidavit as “for the remaining 109 cases, complete enquiry reports along with the medical reports on the deaths of prisoners during 2012 and 2013 are awaited from district Collectors in 74 cases, CB-CID enquiry reports are awaited in two cases and 33 cases are under examination by government.

Further, the district collectors have also been periodically requested to obtain and send the inquest reports of judicial magistrates concerned along with other medical reports relating to deaths of prisoners during these two years to the government immediately for taking further action in this regard and action will be taken on receipt of the reports from the district collector concerned”.

To a query on the abysmal situation reflected in rejoinder affidavit, government pleader submitted there may be some cases which were of natural deaths. If it was so, those cases would have been closed as such.