NHRC notice to UP govt, police chief over 'custodial' death in Jalaun district

The NHRC on Thursday, 18 July said it has issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the state's police chief over reports that a person died allegedly in police custody due to torture in Jalaun district.

Reportedly, in an effort to "hide the incident", some police personnel also illegally detained family members of the deceased at a police station, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said in a statement.

The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report that "one person died in police custody due to torture in Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh", it said.

As mentioned in a news report, carried on 15 July, the police personnel allegedly left the body of the victim, uninformed, outside the emergency ward of the district hospital and fled, the statement said.

The Commission has observed that the content of the media report, if true, raises a serious violation of the human rights of the victim and his family, it said.

Going by the contents of the media report, it appears that the "policemen abused their power", the rights panel said.

A precious human life was lost apparently during police action and the victim's family members were allegedly subjected to harassment and illegal detention, which is a matter of concern, it said.

Accordingly, it has issued notices to the chief secretary and the director general of police of Uttar Pradesh to submit a detailed report within two weeks, the statement said.

The Commission also noted that Jalaun police authorities have not yet sent any intimation to it, as per its standing guidelines about death in police or judicial custody, within 24 hours.

Therefore, the superintendent of police, Jalaun has been directed to explain within one week why this case of custodial death was not reported to the Commission within 24 hours, the statement said.

As mentioned in the news report, the duty doctor on noticing a body in front of the emergency ward sent a ward boy to inform the police station, however, reportedly, the police "illegally detained him". He was released only after a protest by the hospital staff, the statement said.

Reportedly, there were injury marks on the body of the deceased while the police claim that the man, wanted in a case of murder, was ill and died in the police station after the arrest due to illness, it added.