Orissa High Court to hear PIL on Puri custodial death on December 22

The whereabouts of family members of the victim are not known and no compensation has been granted to them, the rejoinder added.

Orissa High Court (Photo | EPS)

CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Monday posted the hearing on the alleged custodial death in Puri to December 22 after the Puri SP informed the court that three independent and impartial inquiries into the case are underway.

Filing an affidavit, the SP Kanwar Vishal Singh said that a DSP rank officer of  Human Rights Protection Cell of the State Police is investigating the case. While the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked its East Zone Rapporteur Vinod Agarwal to inquire into the matter, the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Puri, is also investigating under direction of the District & Sessions Judge, Puri, as per NHRC guidelines, Singh said.

The court is hearing a PIL filed by Sarat Kumar Rayguru, a Puri-based lawyer, seeking court-monitored investigation, compensation for the deceased’s kin and immediate action against police officials allegedly involved in the custodial death. 

The incident had occurred on November 18. Singh in a counter-affidavit to the PIL had earlier claimed that the death of K Apana @ Ramesh is not a case of custodial death.“The death was completely accidental and a fallout of the tussle with the police, when the deceased was attempting to kill and escape by aiming his gun at the police team”, Singh claimed in the affidavit filed on December 14.

In a rejoinder to it, the petitioner alleged that the SP’s counter-affidavit had made false claims while suppressing the facts behind the death of Ramesh. The whereabouts of family members of the victim are not known and no compensation has been granted to them, the rejoinder added.

While dismissing the allegations, Singh in his affidavit on Monday said the State government in pursuance of the suggestion of the High Court has sanctioned an interim compensation of `5 lakh for the next of the kin of the deceased in the alleged custodial death. The interim compensation has been sanctioned from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund after sympathetic consideration of the plight of the bereaved family, he said.