CUTTACK: The Supreme Court has enhanced the compensation to be paid in the 1985 Purighat police station custodial death case to Rs 7 lakh in addition to the Rs 3 lakh awarded by the Orissa High Court. However, the Apex Court on Thursday reduced the sentence for conviction to six months instead of the one year awarded by the High Court.
As per the records, the police had picked Kashinath Nayak and one Kushia Jena in connection with a case. Though Kashinath was detained, police had released Kushia. It was alleged that Kashinath was brutally assaulted inside the police station and he died on the way to hospital.
The then Odisha DGP had handed over the investigation to Crime Branch. The investigating agency had submitted a charge-sheet against two police officials - Pravat Chandra Mohanty and PK Choudhury on July 7, 1985.
Both Mohanty and Choudhury were convicted by the trial court for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for five years and eight years respectively by a lower court.
Both filed criminal appeals in the High Court and were released on bail on September 1, 1988. Twelve years later on November 9, 2020, the High Court acquitted both the police officers of the charges and reduced the maximum sentence of three years rigorous imprisonment to one year simple imprisonment, taking their age into consideration.
Both, who have since been in jail custody, had filed in the Supreme Court appeals against the High Court judgment.
Rejecting the appeals, the Supreme Court bench of Justice Ashok Bhusan and Justice Ajay Rastogi said, "Although the High Court has awarded the compensation of Rs 3 lakh in favour of the legal representatives of the deceased, we are of the view that compensation awarded was not adequate. "