Custodial deaths: HC seeks complete list since 2012

SHILLONG, April 13: A division bench of the High Court of Meghalaya has directed the inspector-general of prisons to file an additional affidavit indicating the complete list of persons who have died in custody since 2012.
“It would be best if a particular cut-off date were to be indicated. The affidavit should also confirm that there has been no custodial death other than those indicated in such affidavit so that if any anomaly is found or any further name discovered, appropriate action may be taken against the inspector-general,” the division bench said.
Hearing a PIL on custodial violence and other matters relating to prison conditions, the court said such an affidavit will be counter-verified by the Chief Secretary to the State and both affidavits should be filed within the next 10 days.
Pursuant to the order dated March 31, 2022, an executive summary of the more detailed report filed earlier was submitted with the particulars of the persons who died in custody since 2012 apparently indicated in tabular form.
“However, there appears to be no death in custody in the year 2012. While that is possible, the state should again confirm the same,” the order said.
The amicus curiae pointed out that several names indicated in the table furnished by the state do not figure in the earlier reports.
The court said it was necessary to implead as parties the heirs of some of the persons disclosed for the first time as having died in custody. The heirs of those listed at numbers 1, 10 to 15 and 17 to 31 were specified.
Due compensation for such heirs was also sought.
The court found it more alarming that in an affidavit on February 26, 2018, affirmed by the then under-secretary to the state, the office of the Director of Health Services (MI) indicated the names of five persons who died in custody in 2013 and 2014.
But these names were not included in the table appended to the executive summary, although the “affidavit in support thereof claims the table to be the exhaustive list of persons who have died in custody in the state since 2012”.