NEW DELHI, Jan 17: The interim report of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), probing the Hauz Qazi custody death, has found circumstantial evidence to prove that Hari Shankar, the 55-year-old leather merchant, was tortured before his death.the commission then issued show-cause notices to the Delhi government seeking a reply within two weeks. The notices were issued on January 9 to the home department of the government. The notice will now be sent on to Lieutenant-Governor Tejinder Khanna for his permission to obtain a reply from the Delhi Police. The NHRC had taken suo motu cognizance of the leather merchant's death on December 10 in Hauz Qazi. He was rounded up by the police for interrogation in connection with a stabbing incident and was held in custody for more than 40 hours. Later, he was declared ``brought dead'' at the LNJP Hospital. The commission's interim report is important because the post-mortem report had said that the death was due to a heart attack and there were no external
injuries. Because of this, no FIR was lodged against the SHO, Hauz Qazi, Dharam Pal Yadav. He was merely transferred to the lines ``so that he did not get in the way of the probe.''
The police have also been insisting that they cannot lodge an FIR against the policeman involved before getting the report of the Delhi government's sub-divisional magistrate's inquiry into the incident. The notice is part of the procedure under the NHRC Act by which the commission lets the parties involved in an incident reply to the conclusions arrived at after investigations. After this, the final report is compiled and the commission issues the directives.
The commission's directives in this case could include awarding a hefty compensation to the victim's family, suspension of the policemen involved and registration of cases against the policemen under Section 304 of IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
The other option, as has been exercised in recent cases by the commission, is to cut the amount of
compensation from the salaries of the policemen.
According to sources, the NHRC in the show-cause notice wants to know why such directives should not be issued and to this end seeks more information from the agencies concerned.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
