NHRC asks Chhattisgarh Govt to pay Rs 3 lakh compensation

New Delhi, Apr 11 (UNI) Holding the Chhattisgarh government liable for custodial death of an accused in 1995, the National Human Rights Commission today directed the state to pay Rs 3 lakh to the victim's family.

The Commission asked the Chief Secretary to submit compliance report along with proof of payment to Kamla Devi, wife of the victim Gautam Singh within eight weeks.

Gautam Singh's dead body was found on August 28, 1995, lying on a railway track near Janjgir station. He was accused for forcibly obtained the signature of a lady on a promissory note.

On consideration of the investigation report of the CB CID and the post-mortem report, which attributed the death to extensive trauma, the Commission found prima-facie that the possibility of torture in police custody could not be ruled out and therefore a show cause notice was issued to the state of Chhattisgarh.

In response to the show cause notice, the Korba Additional SP, contended on behalf of the state that there was no evidence of torture in police custody.

''It was only on August 22, 1995 that he secretly escaped from the police station while the enquiry was in progress,'' he said.

The Commission, however, dismissed the contention, saying it does not appeal to logic that the accused escaped from the police station during the interrogation and yet the police kept sitting idle till his dead body was found ''The plea taken by the state is not at all tenable and in view of its inability to give a satisfactory explanation, the State must be held liable for the death of Gautam Singh,'' NHRC said .

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