JOIN USUP custodial death must be probed
Custodial deaths are common in India and that is why every such death should receive social and judicial scrutiny and be acted upon. Those responsible for them should be brought to book and made to pay for them. Not a day passes in the country without a death in police custody being reported from some part or the other. The recent death of a Muslim youth, Altaf, in a police station in Kasganj, near Agra in UP, in suspicious circumstances is one such. The young man was taken to the station for questioning after a Hindu girl had gone missing in the village. The day after he was taken to the station, the police claimed that he had committed suicide by hanging from a water tap in the bathroom.
There are circumstances that cast doubt on the police version of the death. The tap from which the youth is alleged to have hanged himself was just three feet above the floor. It is also unlikely that the police allowed him to go to the bathroom and allowed him to spend time there. There were marks of injury on his body. The police have also claimed that the autopsy report showed death by hanging and alleged that the youth’s family had submitted, in writing, to the police that he was suffering from depression. But the family members have contested the claim of suicide. The youth’s father has said he was made to sign on blank papers. Members of the family have said they are too poor to pursue the matter. All this has created doubts about pressure being brought on them to hush up the case.
The death of a youth in such circumstances should not be the concern of only his family. The rule of law and the rights of citizens are involved in this. Some policemen have been suspended and an inquiry has been ordered, as required by the law. The National Minorities Commission has taken cognisance of the death. But there is the need for a free and independent enquiry into the matter. The UP Police are known for their lawless conduct and atrocities, especially against minorities. At least 23 people have died in police custody and 1,295 in judicial custody in the state in the past three years. Custodial murder is murder only and should be treated as such. Unfortunately, the police and the ruling establishment are seen to be supporting the killers and as being complicit in the crime.
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