BHUBANESWAR: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has ordered the Odisha government to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation to the family of a man who allegedly died in police custody in Keonjhar district three years back. It has also set a six-week deadline for the state government to file a compliance report.
Adjudicating a petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer and human rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy, a bench of the commission comprising justices Arun Mishra and Rajiv Jain has awarded the compensation.
One Suresh Naik of Shedeng Basti under Barbil police limits, who was detained on the charges of murdering his wife, had died in police custody on November 21, 2019.
Though police claimed that Naik died by suicide, his relatives alleged that he had died of custodial torture following which Tripathy had requested the apex human rights body to investigate the case impartially besides recommending compensation to the family members of the deceased.NHRC observed that the state cannot escape its liability for the death of the person in police custody, the order stated.