LEGAL NOTES

high court orders govt to pay rs 1 lakh for custodial death hyderabad: justice b prakash rao of the ap high court held the government liable to pay compensation in a case of custodial death. awarding a monetary compensation of rs 1 lakh to the widow of the victim, the judge pointed out that closure of the case by the magistrate was illegal. the judge was dealing with a case where one sagar baba died during interrogation in guntur town in may, 1991.the district and sessions judge conducted an inquiry and found that the death was due to police torture.he also recommended action against the erring police officer. however, the cbcid filed a report before the magistrate resulting in closure of the case. in a judgement of far reaching import, justice prakash rao observed that the order of the magistrate was laconic and was bereft of reason. he directed the magistrate to conduct a fresh inquiry and dispose of the matter. the government was directed to pay a sum of rs 1 lakh to the wife of the victim. poll order set aside justice b sudershan reddy of the andhra pradesh high court set aside the order of the state election commission, dated august 17, directing the election officer of the giddalur gram panchayat to countermand the poll for the election of sarpanch and the member to ward no.4. justice reddy directed the authorities to proceed with the election process from the stage of counting of votes and to declare the results. the election commission had directed the election officer to countermand the election on the ground that one of the contesting candidates died on the day of the poll.