Frame norms for custodial death payout, HC asks govt

Lucknow: The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad high court on Friday directed state govt to frame guidelines for fixing compensation to be awarded to the kin in cases of custodial deaths. The bench suggested that while doing so, the state may consider the parameters of age, income and dependents of the deceased, as is followed in the cases of motor vehicle accident deaths."Custodial torture is a naked violation of human dignity and degradation that destroys self-esteem.... Despite recommendations for banishing torture from the investigative system, growing incidence of torture and deaths in police custody and prisons continue to persist," a bench of Justices Shekhar B. Saraf and Manjive Shukla observed.With this, the bench directed UP govt to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of a youth who had died in the jail custody.The bench also allowed a writ petition filed by Pilibhit resident Prema Devi whose son had died in the custody in Feb 2024.She said her son was booked in a rape and Pocso Act case by Pilibhit's Puranpur police in 2016. He was arrested and jailed for three years and 10 months before he was released on bail on Feb 12, 2024. When he couldn't be present in the trial court in the following hearing, he was arrested in pursuance of a warrant. He died in jail on Feb 20, 2024. An inquiry by a judicial magistrate said that no injury marks were found on his body and that he had died by suicide.Refusing to admit it, the bench said that he died while in custody and control of the state authorities, and "the material placed on record unmistakably established violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution".In its verdict, the bench observed, "Custodial violence and deaths strike the very core of the rule of law and are an affront to human dignity. The State, being the custodian of life and liberty of persons in its custody, bears a strict and non-delegable duty to ensure their safety." In a written reply to a question raised by MP Thirumaavalavan Thol on August 1, 2023, in Lok Sabha, Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai had said, "According to the data shared, Uttar Pradesh reported eight custodial deaths in 2021–22 and 10 cases in 2022–23."