Madurai
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday directed the Dean, Government Rajaji Hospital, to conduct a re-post mortem of the body of a boy, who allegedly died as result of custodial torture.
Justice N. Seshasayee ordered that the body be exhumed in the presence of the Dean and the Tahsildar concerned. The post mortem should be conducted by doctors who had treated the boy, the court said. It sought a response from the Commissioner of Police, Madurai, on the steps taken so far in the alleged case of custodial torture. The response of the Juvenile Justice Board was also sought.
When the Commissioner of Police submitted that prima facie the case ought to have been registered under Section 174 of CrPC (Police to enquire and report on suicide), the court observed that “why a case under Section 174 of CrPC should be registered is a question, which the conscience of this court struggles to accept. Is it prima facie a case of suspicious death or murder?”
The court also questioned the reports submitted in the case. The report filed by the GRH Dean suspected a renal injury. Why was the boy taken into custody with external injuries? The process had been gone through mechanically with the least sensitivity to the issue, the court said. Also why the report of the Juvenile Justice Board did not indicate the injuries on the boy, the court wanted to know.
The court was hearing a petition filed by the boy’s mother, who claimed that her 17-year-old elder son was picked up by the S.S. Colony police on January 7 for an inquiry in a case of jewel theft that occurred on January 4 and was subsequently let off.
A week later, the police informed her that they had evidence against her son in the crime. She claimed that he was picked up by the police on January 13 and subjected to torture and kept under illegal custody till January 16.
The boy was produced before a judicial magistrate and then before the Juvenile Justice Board on January 18. After a complaint of custodial torture, the magistrate sent him to GRH for treatment. The boy is said to have succumbed to injuries on January 24. The woman sought a direction for re-post mortem and a CB-CID probe.
