The Haryana Human Rights Commission has recommended a compensation of ₹7.5 lakh in a case pertaining to the unnatural death of a man in police custody.
The matter pertains to the death of 31-year-old Mintu, who was arrested by the Crime Investigation Agency staff of Karnal Police in a theft case on October 16 last year.
In a complaint to the commission, Mintu’s brother Naresh Kumar alleged that the police demanded money from him and threatened to implicate the accused in criminal cases.
Mintu was, however, beaten to death when he could not fulfil the demand made by the police, the complainant stated.
He also told the human rights body that before Mintu’s post-mortem examination, he saw that his brother’s hands and feet were swollen and the body had multiple fractures.
The probe by First Class Judicial Magistrate into the matter concluded that the death was caused due to multiple injuries as described in post-mortem report and their complications.
Referring to the probe report, the commission argued that the injuries must have been caused during the police custody. “Had the injuries, the number of which has been mentioned as 22 in the post-mortem report, been there on person of deceased Mintu prior to his arrest, then he must have been admitted in some hospital… and there were remote chances of his arrest,” said the commission, in its seven-page order.
The compensation has been decided as per the Haryana government’s policy for death of prisoners due to torture by the jail staff.
Karnal Police had also registered a murder case in this connection, based on the complaint of Mr. Kumar and the investigation is being carried out by the Crime Branch.
