Supreme Court stays Meghalaya High Court directive to pay ₹10-15 lakh compensation for custodial deaths

The Supreme Court recently stayed a Meghalaya High Court ruling that had ordered for compensation of up to ₹10-15 lakhs to be paid by the State government in cases of custodial deaths [State of Meghalaya vs Killing Jana and ors]..A bench of Justices BR Gavai, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta issued notice on an appeal by the Meghalaya government, adding that a response should be filed in four weeks. "Until further order(s), the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court shall remain stayed, subject to condition that the compensation as determined by the National Human Right Commission (NHRC) shall be paid by the petitioner (State government)," the bench directed in an order passed on January 22..In August last year, the Meghalaya High Court had remarked that custodial deaths of prisoners would stop only when the compensation amount for such violence is pegged at a level where the State would bleed to make the payment.This judgment was pronounced in a suo motu case. In a strongly-worded judgment, the High Court expressed its distress over the number of deaths of under-trial prisoners at the hands of investigating authorities who used third-degree methods to get information.That High Court observed that such excesses by the State through its police personnel may result in admissions that are inaccurate and only made to avoid or delay further torture. Pertinently, the High Court had refused to accept the "Haryana Model" of compensation that has been endorsed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in such cases.Compensation paid to victims has to be both adequate for the families of the victims and such as to act as a deterrent so that the State and its officials remain in check, the High Court added.It explained that the amount should be one that the State is not happy to pay off, with the bench led by then Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee stressing that incidents of custodial death are a slur on civilised society.Therefore, it proceeded to fix the compensation amounts ranging between ₹ 10-15 lakhs as compensation to be paid by the State to victims of custodial violence. Where the victim is above 45 years of age, the compensation to be paid by the State to the kin of the victim was fixed at ₹10 lakhs. For those in the age group of 30 to 45 years, the compensation to be paid should be ₹12 lakhs, the High Court added.For victims of custodial deaths below 30 years, the amount fixed was ₹ 15 lakhs. This led to the instant appeal filed by the Meghalaya government before the Supreme Court..Before the apex court, Advocate General Amit Kumar of Meghalaya with advocates Avijit Mani Tripathi, Rekha Bakshi, Aditya Shankar Pandey, Shaurya Sahay, Himanshu Sehrawat, Upendra Mishra, and PS Negi represented the State of Meghalaya..[Read order]