GUWAHATI, JULY 24: The Gauhati High Court has directed the Assam government to clarify whether it would propose to pay compensation to the kith and kin of prisoners who have died unnaturally in custody.
The division bench of the Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury passed the order while hearing a public interest litigation (case number PIL/10/2020) filed by a city-based NGO (Studio Nilima Collaborative Network for Research and Capacity Building) in 2020, in connection with the increasing number of death of inmates who have been declared as foreign nationals, particularly in District Jail, Goalpara.
The High Court had on March 23, 2023, directed the Advocate General of Assam to apprise whether magisterial enquiries under Section 176 CrPC were held in the cases involving deaths of prisoners in custody.
The court was informed on July 20, 2023 that only in one out of 31 cases of death in custody, inquiry was held by a judicial magistrate, and only in one case, the IG (prisons), Assam had granted compensation to the family members.
The counsel appearing for the petitioner pointed out that 13 out of 31 deaths took place in the jail at Goalpara.
“B. Gogoi, learned Government counsel shall take instructions on the aspect whether the state proposes to grant compensation to the kith and kin of all prisoners who died in custody by treating them to be victims as defined under Section 357A of Cr.P.C,” the court ordered.
“Learned Government counsel shall also take instructions of this peculiar circumstance as emerging from record,” it ordered.
The matter will come up for hearing again on Tuesday.