Court wants Tihar inmate’s death probed

NEW DELHI: A magisterial report on the death of an undertrial in Tihar Jail has revealed that the prisoner died of head injuries he received in sub-jail number 4. The inmate had been found bleeding profusely in March last year and rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital. He died three days later. While jail officials have been able to offer no explanation regarding his injuries, the Tis Hazari court has taken strict view of the matter and ordered a police probe.A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder has been registered.
The man, Suraj, was imprisoned under allegations of possessing illicit liquor in violation of Section 61 of Punjab Excise Act. On March 26 last year, he was found unconscious and rushed to the hospital. He was shifted to the ICU but died after three days. An inquest report dated September 30 last year termed the death unnatural, saying it was caused by head injuries.
However, prison officials appeared clueless about how the inmate was injured. “We will conduct an internal inquiry as well. It is not clear how Suraj suffered injuries,” said Tihar law officer and PRO Sunil Gupta.
A copy of the inquest report was ordered to be sent to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) under court directions on November 11 last year. However, no action was taken. Chief metropolitan magistrate, Tis Hazari court, Vidya Prakash, said, “No direction was issued regarding the observations made in the inquest report that the manner of death of inmate appeared to be unnatural.”
Prakash referred to the inquest report to say that testimonies of jail members, officials and inmates couldn’t explain how Suraj had sustained the injuries. Three prosecution witnesses had deposed during inquest proceedings that the possibility of physical assault cannot be ruled out.
Prakash wrote, “The court is of the view that the matter requires a thorough probe by an investigating agency after registration of an FIR under appropriate sections of law for the purpose of finding out the involvement if anyone in causing head injuries to Suraj so that the offender, if any, is brought to book. Consequently, SHO PS Hari Nagar is directed to register an FIR under appropriate provisions of law and get the matter investigated by a police official not below the rank of inspectory.”