Former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has asked the State government to order a judicial probe into the death of at least four people in police custody or jail since October 2019 and compensate their families adequately.
He outlined the four cases in a letter to Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on June 21, a day after visiting the survivors of Sajaio Mog, who had an “unnatural death” in Gomati district’s Amarpur jail. He died on June 17.
“Any incident of unnatural death either in police custody or in jail is a matter of great concern and anguish. These are nothing but absolute signs of gross violation of human rights. In a democracy this sort of act cannot be ignored or suppressed without taking appropriate measures,” wrote Mr Sarkar, who headed a Left Front government for almost 20 years.
Apart from Mog, he listed the unnatural deaths of Mangal Das, also from Gomati district. He died in the Radha Kishorepur police lock-up on October 31, 2019. The two others he named were Sushanta Ghosh, who died in the West Agartala police station lock-up on January 12 and Sandip Sarkar, who died at the corrective centre of Tripura Central Jail in Sepahijala district on January 28.
The former Chief Minister on Wednesday said he and three Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLAs – Ratan Bhowmik, Jashbir Tripura and Prabhat Chowdhury – visited Mog’s family at their home in village Kamalachhari village on June 20. The family, he said, was very angry and wanted to know the truth about his death in police custody.
On behalf of the CPI(M), Mr. Sarkar demanded judicial inquiry into the unnatural deaths and the fixing of responsibilities. He also sought compensation and rehabilitation through jobs to family members of the deceased, particularly Mog’s younger brother.
“The hierarchy and authority of police and jail should be cautioned and asked to be alert to prevent such unhappy occurrence. Visit to the police stations or jail by the appropriate authority should be organised in a regular manner with all seriousness,” he wrote.
Mr. Deb, who heads the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government, at a review meeting of the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Department on June 22, told officials to be “more careful” in ensuring no one dies in captivity.
