HC tells govt to furnish complete list of custodial death victims since 2012

SHILLONG, May 2: The High Court of Meghalaya on Monday requested Assistant Solicitor-General, N Mozika, to furnish the result of the exercise conducted by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) pursuant to a Supreme Court judgment to ascertain the exact number of custodial death victims in Meghalaya since the year 2012.
The court had taken suo motu cognizance of cases of custodial violence and other matters relating to prison conditions in the state.
The division bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W Diengdoh also directed the state government to identify the heirs of all custodial death victims in Meghalaya since 2012 and inform them regarding the pendency of the present proceedings.
“Such heirs and legal representatives of the persons who died in custody will be formally added as parties at a later stage but they must be made aware of the present proceedings. This will also help in the exercise of reaching compensation, if any, to such heirs upon the quantum thereof being decided in course of the present proceedings,” the order said.
During the hearing on Monday, the state filed an additional affidavit pursuant to the previous order of April 13, 2022, but N Mozika, who has been appointed Amicus Curiae in the case, contested that several names were missing from the state’s list of custodial deaths.
In its affidavit, the state had referred to the judgment reported at (2017) 10 SCC 658 (Re-Inhuman Conditions in 1382 prisons).
“The state has placed reliance on paragraph 58.1 of the judgment as to the ambit of the present proceedings initiated pursuant to the directions issued in the aforesaid Supreme Court judgment and also referred to the exercise directed to be undertaken by the National Crime Records Bureau as indicated at paragraph 58.3 of the judgment,” the court observed.
The court further asked the Amicus Curiae and the counsel representing the state to finalise all the names of the victims of custodial deaths and, upon obtaining the NCRB distinction in terms of paragraph 58.3 of the Supreme Court judgment, tabulate the nature of death in each case since 2012.