Madhya Pradesh High Court orders State to pay ₹20 lakh to family of man who died in police custody; transfers probe to CBI

The Gwalior Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday ordered the State government to pay ₹20 lakh as compensation to the family of a man who died while in police custody, under mysterious circumstances [Ashok Rawat v. State of Madhya Pradesh]..While observing that the Gwalior Police failed to maintain the public's faith in the police force, Justice Gurpal Singh Ahluwalia ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the probe in this case."The Gwalior Police and the investigating officers have lost the confidence of this Court as right from day one, they were working with a solitary intention to protect the guilty police personals, therefore, it is clear that the Gwalior police has miserably failed to conduct a free and fair investigation in the case of a custodial death. The Director, CBI, is directed to immediately take over the investigation and hand it over to a competent investigating officer," the order stated..The Bench was hearing a petition filed by the son of the victim highlighting the lethargic approach of the Gwalior Police in investigating the sudden death of his father, who was mercilessly beaten while in custody.As per the petition, on August 10, 2019, the petitioner's father and a neighbour had an altercation over land. The duo went to the police to file complaints against each other. However, the petitioner alleged that the police lodged a case against his father and when he tried to persuade the cops to register his complaint too, he was mercilessly beaten. He claimed that his father succumbed to the severe injuries inflicted by the police.The accused police personnel, on the other hand, maintained that the deceased was only restrained in the police station while the complainant was referred for a medical test. By then, the victim committed suicide by entering the lockup and hanging himself. On a complaint by the petitioner, a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against Vijay Singh Rajput, the then Station House Officer, Head Constable and his deputies - Arun Mishra, Dharmendra, Neeraj Prajapati and Vijay Kushwaha. Even Homeguard Sainik Ehsaan Khan was booked in the case..In his 64-page judgment, Justice Ahluwalia noted that despite an FIR being lodged, the probe initially didn't proceed properly and it is only after the petitioner approached the Superintendent of Police, Gwalior that the investigation was transferred from Belgada police station to the neighbouring Bhitarwar police station.The Bench noted that even the investigating officers of Bhitarwar did not carry out a proper probe, and in fact, tried to protect the accused officers. Three years since the incident, none of the accused have been arrested and no chargesheet has been filed yet. The accused cops were suspended for a few months and were later reinstated.Evidence showed that the accused cops had kept the deceased in illegal detention. The Court said that even if the victim committed suicide, there was no question of Safi (rope) being kept inside the lockup. It further noted that CCTV footage was tampered by the accused cops, who claimed that there was a power cut in the police station at the time..Taking note of all these circumstances, the Bench said that the Gwalior Police camouflaged the situation to protect the culprits."It is clear that although the Gwalior Police, had camouflaged the situation and in order to give false impression in the mind of the general public, projected that the matter is being investigated by a senior police officer of a different District, but unfortunately, the Superintendent of Police Gwalior did not take any pains to restore the belief and faith of the general public in the police, but on the contrary, deliberately closed their eyes in order to ignore the manner in which investigation was being done.".The Bench was irked to note that the Superintendent of Police, Gwalior, instead of instituting disciplinary proceedings against the erring cops, 'facilitated' the retirement of prime accused Rajput. This, the Bench opined, was nothing but an 'out and out privilege' to Rajput to retire with all retiral benefits.Therefore, the Bench ordered the Director General Police, MP to conduct an inquiry to ascertain if the investigating officers could be booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act or the Indian Penal Code for 'protecting the accused cops.' If the DGP finds so, then he should request the CBI to make the three investigating officers as accused in the case, the Court said.A further direction was issued to initiate departmental enquiry against the Superintendent and also the other investigating officers of the case.Further, the DGP was ordered to once again suspend all the accused cops till the end of the trial."These directions are necessary so that the faith of the general public in criminal justice system is maintained," Justice Ahluwalia clarified..Advocate Nirmal Sharma appeared for the petitioner. Advocate AK Nirankarni represented the State. Advocate Shashank Indapurkar represented the CBI..[Read judgment]