Greeva Garg –
Published on August 27, 2021, at 15:15 IST
The Allahabad High Court denied Bail to a Policeman, alleged for causing Custodial Death of a man in the year 1997.
Concerning the seriousness of the matter, the vacation Bench headed by Justice Samit Gopal denied Bail to Policeman Sher Ali referring various Judicial observations of the Apex Court and the other Courts in their verdicts passed in similar matters.
“Custodial violence, custodial torture and custodial deaths have always been a concern for civilized society,” the High Court observed over the matter.
The complainant, Sanjay Kumar Gupta affirmed that, on December 28, 1997, some Policeman from Police Station Kotwali, District Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh came to his house and forcibly took away his father Om Prakash Gupta.
Sanjay visited many Police Stations in the Varanasi District but he found no whereabouts of his father.
On March 2, 1998, Sanjay was informed that his father died due to heart attack.
Subsequently, Sanjay went to the Police Station to file an FIR but the Police Officials refused to register it.
Sanjay then approached the Chief Judicial magistrate, Varanasi, filing an application under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
In 2007, the Lower Court accepted a protest petition filed by Sanjay and summoned the accused for offences under Section 364, 304 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
After a stay of proceedings in the Lower Court, Sanjay approached Allahabad High Court where the matter was heard finally in 2012, but judgement was not delivered.
Finally, Sanjay moved to the Apex Court in 2018, and after its hearing in 2020 where matter was again directed to the Allahabad High Court.
In the recent proceeding before the High Court, Sanjay alleged that Police personnel mercilessly and inhumanly assaulted his father, due to which his father died in Police Station itself.
Sanjay also alleged that, to conceal the true reason of death of his father, the Police has conspired along with the doctors of District Hospital, Shahdol, picturing that Om Prakash was admitted to the hospital four days prior to his death due to his heart problem. Therefore, Om Prakash died in hospital and not at the Police Station.
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Also Read: Custodial deaths in India