HYDERABAD: The Telangana high court on Thursday ordered a judicial probe into the custodial death of a dalit woman, Mariamma, at Addaguduru police station in the Rachakonda police commissionerate limits on June 18.
A bench of justices M S Ramachandra Rao and T Vinod Kumar gave this direction while hearing a petition filed by People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Telanagana state unit, general secretary Jaya Vindhyala seeking a judicial probe, stern action against the errant policemen and Rs 5 crore compensation to be recovered from the officers who allegedly tortured Mariamma to death.
Alair judicial first class magistrate has been asked to inquire into the custodial death and furnish a report to the court in a sealed cover in a month.
Addaguduru police had taken Mariamma and her son along with their friend into custody to question them about a crime registered at the police station.
Petitioner’s counsel P Shashi Kiran said police took them into custody on June 15 and tortured them for three days.
The bench directed the judicial registrar to inform the judicial magistrate of Alair to conduct the probe immediately.
Recover the body from the burial ground, if necessary, to conduct a re-postmortem, it added.
Advocate general BS Prasad contended that the Rachakonda police commissioner had already suspended some cops and they even ordered a probe by a revenue divisional officer (RDO), an executive magistrate.
The bench said the CrPC Section 176 (1-A) makes it mandatory for the state to get the matter inquired into by a judicial magistrate and not an executive magistrate in matters such as this.
Reading out the section that says “where death, disappearance, or rape is alleged to have been committed on any woman within the police or judicial custody, there must be an inquiry conducted by a judicial or metropolitan magistrate, in whose jurisdiction the incident has taken place.” The bench asked why no one in the police department or the state government read this crucial provision before ordering an executive magistrate to inquire into it.
The court sought a report from the Alair judicial first class magistrate in a sealed cover and posted the case to June 28 for further hearing.
The bench, during the course of the hearing, inquired about CCTV footage pertaining to the police station.
The state counsel said the police station was not equipped with CCTVs.
The bench asked him why they were not installed despite a clear direction from the Supreme Court.
It helps genuine police officers to prove their innocence.
“Suppose if the victim died of a heart attack, then they can easily establish their innocence.
National Human Rights Commission too made it mandatory to get such incidents inquired by a judicial magistrate through its September 4, 2020 order,” the bench said.
The bench directed the Alair magistrate to issue notices to the relatives of Mariamma and record their statements.
He was given a month’s time to complete his probe and furnish the report to the court.
HC orders judicial probe into dalit woman’s custodial death
