The Telangana High Court on Wednesday ordered an inquiry into the custodial death of a Dalit in Manthani police station of Ramagundam commissionerate.
A division bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy directed Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar to probe the death of Sheelam Rangaiah on Tuesday. The bench instructed the DGP to study the report to be submitted by Mr. Anjani Kumar. “ Take departmental action if any police officials were found to be responsible for Rangaiah’s death,” the direction said. The 52-year-old Dalit was detained by Manthani police on the charge of poaching. After finding him dead, the police registered a case of unnatural death under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code. A lawyer practising at Telangana HC, P.V. Nagamani, wrote a letter to the Chief Justice stating that the Dalit resorted to the extreme step due to harassment by Manthani police.
She requested the HC to order a magisterial inquiry under section 176 (2) of Cr.P.C. Worried of being prosecuted for murder, the police officials were threatening the victim’s family members not to disclose facts, she said in the letter. Taking up the lawyer’s letter as PIL petition, the bench ordered an inquiry into the death. It, however, declined to order re-postmortem, as the victim’s body was already cremated.
