Justice Rajendra Babu to enquire into custodial deaths in Kerala

Kochi, Sep 1(UNI) The Kerala High Court today directed the state government to issue a notification appointing Justice (Retd.) R Rajendra Babu to head the commission of enquiry into the recent custodial deaths in the state.

The court had earlier said that due to the pressure of work and in view of the shortage of judges, services of a sitting judge cannot be spared to look into the matter.

Thereafter, on the request of the high court, former judge R Rajendra Babu expressed willingness to conduct the judicial enquiry,provided full cooperation from the government was ensured for effectively conducting the enquiry.

The court said the Justice R Rajendra Babu Commission will enquire into the custodial deaths and excesses which had taken place from April 1, 2006 and will submit a report to the government in a time-bound manner.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice V K Bali and Justice M Ramachandran was disposing a writ petition filed by advocate A Sabeer Attingal, seeking a CBI enquiry into the recent custodial deaths.

UNI XR ARC TSM1806