29 yrs on, two ex-SIs & doctor awarded jail term in custodial death case

Varanasi: Twenty-nine years after a custodial death, a Varanasi court on Monday sentenced the then in-charge of Sundarpur police outpost, the investigating officer and the doctor who conducted the postmortem examination.Senior prosecution officer (CB-CID) Ganga Sharan said Additional District and Sessions Judge/Special Judge (Anti-Corruption) Amit Kumar Tiwari sentenced Dr KK Jain, who conducted the post-mortem, to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 40,000, retired sub-inspector Narendra Pratap Singh to 10 years’ jail term and a penalty of Rs 31,000, and investigating officer Radheyshyam Singh to six months’ term and a fine of Rs 1,000.The court directed that 50 per cent of the fine amount deposited by the convicts be paid to the deceased’s family. Jain and Narendra are now 70 years old, while Radheyshyam Singh is 85.The case dates back to Feb 5, 1997, when Rajendra Prasad Singh (42), a resident of Bakhariya village under Jansa police station, was travelling by a city bus from Kakarmatta to Sundarpura to collect medicine for his son. During the journey, he reportedly got into an argument with a co-passenger over a seat.According to the prosecution, the then Sundarpur police outpost in-charge detained Rajendra, accusing him of stealing Rs 100 from fellow passenger Dayaram’s pocket. The same evening, Rajendra allegedly died in police custody at the outpost barracks due to torture.After his death, the then Sundarpur police outpost in-charge allegedly got a theft case registered against the deceased at Lanka police station. The investigation was assigned to Radheyshyam, who concluded in his report that Rajendra had died by suicide.Police claimed that Rajendra hanged himself from a ceiling fan. The postmortem examination was conducted under the supervision of Dr Jain, who was then posted at the SSPG Divisional Hospital at Kabirchaura. In his report, Dr Jain stated that death occurred due to asphyxiation from hanging without mentioning the condition of the body parts as would be expected in a suicide by hanging, nor did it record the measurements of the marks found on the neck. Without informing the deceased’s family, the police cremated the body the same day at Harishchandra Ghat.Dissatisfied over these reports and inaction of the senior police officials, Rajendra’s widow Shashima Devi filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission on Feb 11, 1997. NHRC took cognizance of it and the investigation was handed to the CB-CID. During its investigation, the CB-CID found no ceiling fan in the barrack.After completing his investigation, CB-CID inspector Shrikant Pandey submitted a petition to Lanka police station on April 15, 1998, and on April 22, a case was registered against eight people, including then Lanka police station in-charge Hasan Abbas. After investigation, chargesheets were filed in court against 11 people on Oct 14, 2004, and another in 2011. The trial commenced in court on Dec 7, 2005. Twelve witnesses including the deceased’s wife were examined during the trial.Of 11, two accused — then additional city magistrate Awadh Mani Tripathi and Kavindra Narayan Singh — were discharged by the court at the charge-framing stage, while inspector Hasan Abbas, constables Shubh Narayan Singh, Mangru Pandey and Chandrama Chaudhary died during the proceedings. Following these developments, the trial continued against Dr Jain, Radheyshyam, Narendra, constables Shrinivas Shukla and Anirudh Yadav. Shrinivas and Anirudh were acquitted due to lack of evidence.