Coming down heavily on the State government for the rising number of custodial deaths in the State, the Bombay High Court on Friday said that it will frame guidelines on it. “The DG (Director General of Police) must give instructions to all the police stations that there should be one senior police officer in every police station at night,” the division bench of Justices V M Kanade and P D Kode said.
The court also wondered why the under-trials should be subjected to severe torture. “Are we so inhuman that we have lost a sense of proportion, constitutional rights?” the court asked.
It was hearing a petition which has alleged that a 25-year-old youth died in police custody due to severe torture. The petition has been filed by the father of the deceased and three persons who were the co-accused. One of them is a juvenile.
The court said that policemen vented out their frustration on the under-trials, making them dreadful of the night custody. “Why would an accused consume poison in police custody? Because he is so afraid of the police that he prefers death to the torture. In the past two days, we have seen three custodial deaths,” the bench said.
It opined that the police should not be allowed to interrogate under-trials after midnight. “Custodial interrogation after midnight should be stopped. The accused in custody have to face the brunt of all the frustration of the police (personnel),” the bench said.
The court also rapped the police for taking action against the erring police personnel only when the victims knock on the doors of the court. The prosecution told the court that an FIR had been registered against all accused policemen in Agnello Valdaris death case, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
The prosecution also submitted copies of Agnello’s post-mortem report and videography report.
But the court demanded that it should be shown the CCTV footage of Agnello’s escape from police custody. “We don’t yet have it. We have asked for it,” the prosecutor told the court.
Advocate Yug Chaudhry, who represented the petitioners, brought it to the notice of the court that its orders had not been followed by the prosecution. “Despite the court order that the FIR should be registered by the Crime Branch under the DGP’s direction, why is the FIR registered at Wadala police station by a police officer? None of the victims were called for the registration of FIR? Is this not a cover-up? Is this serious and honest investigation?” advocate Chaudhry asked.
The court has directed the police to register the FIR at the instance of the victims. The matter will be heard next on June 17.
