UP gets NHRC notice over death of Dadri accused

Tension gripped Dadri’s Bisada village after an accused in last year’s lynching case died in police custody, prompting the NHRC to issue notice to the Uttar Pradesh police.

Ravi alias Robin, who was among the 15 people arrested over lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq last year following rumours of cooking beef, died at Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital in Delhi of kidney and respiratory failure on Tuesday, doctors said.

Taking suo motu cognisance of a media report, the NHRC issued notice to the Director General of Prisons and the Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh, and sought a report within four weeks.

The NHRC observed that the content of the report raises a serious issue of “violation of human rights” of the prisoner.

In a statement, the Commission also observed that “the reported different versions and opinions of the jail and the hospital authorities, and the suspicion raised by the family members of the deceased prisoner indicate that the matter requires a thorough probe to determine the facts, which led to his death”.

Protest over death
Hundreds of people staged a demonstration in the village on Wednesday in protest against Ravi’s death and burnt effigies of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

Sources said security personnel have been deployed in Bisada and senior district officials were camping in the village to monitor the situation, which was stated to be “tense”. Police sources said entry of outsiders has been banned in the village and people were being advised to remain indoors.

Police said Ravi was admitted to the hospital in a serious condition on Tuesday where he died at night following renal failure. They said he was “suspected to be suffering from dengue”.

Sources said a large number of people, including some saffron leaders, took out a procession in the village and later held a ‘panchayat’ at the local temple. The locals alleged that Ravi died after he was beaten by the jailor. They demanded the arrest of the jailor.

The news of Ravi’s death triggered tension in the village. The women whose sons and brothers were lodged in jail had been on a dharna at the village temple demanding the arrest of Akhlaq’s brother Jan Mohammed for slaughtering cow. They alleged that cops were “persecuting” the accused in the lynching case.

A few months ago, a court in Gautam Buddh Nagar district had ordered registration of a case against Akhlaq’s kin for slaughtering cow.

The order came after a forensic laboratory in Mathura said in its report that the piece of meat that was recovered from Akhlaq’s house was of “cow or its progeny”.