Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Rights panel holds cops responsible

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD June 13. The State Human Rights Committee, in its first report ended May, held policemen responsible for custodial deaths in six police stations, which it inquired and ordered action including prosecution against some of them besides awarding payment of compensation to the next of the kin of victims.

An important recommendation, the Committee made, was constitution of a State Human Rights Commission, to inquire not only human rights violations and custodial deaths but encounter killings. (The Committee at present could only inquire into violations and custodial deaths).

It also wanted the Government to extend application of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, to the Scheduled Areas, issue comprehensive instructions to police officers to scrupulously follow the Supreme Court guidelines on detention and the superintendents of jails not to give scope for allegations of ill-treatment and torture of inmates.

The Committee comprising Justice Y Bhaskara Rao, former Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court as chairman, and Justice A. Hanumanthu, former Judge of AP High Court, and N. Subba Raju, former chairman of AP Administrative Tribunal as members submitted, the first report to the Governor, S. S. Barnala, on Friday. The Committee, in its report also pointed to the inadequate staff and lack of investigation team and said proposals had been sent to the Government for their sanction.

Mr. Rao said the Committee had registered 20 cases of human rights violations from September 18, 2002 to May 31, 2003. Of these 20, seven related to custodial deaths and of these seven, six related to suicide due to torture. All these six cases had been inquired, action recommended and orders passed. As for petitions, it had received 383 and 116 were lodged for want of jurisdiction. Seventyfive of them were disposed of by forwarding them to the authorities concerned, while in 48, reports were called and disposed of. Reports were awaited in 34 cases.

In the first complaint of custodial death, in Sadashivpet police station in Medak district on August 26, last year, the Committee held that Samba Rachappa died in police custody due to torture. It directed the State Government to prosecute and take action against the Circle Inspector, the Sub-Inspector and police constables and pay Rs. 2 lakhs as compensation to the widow within three months of receiving the report.

In the remaining five cases, the Committee took suo motu action based on newspper reports. In the custodial death of Malide Narsimhulu, in Balanagar police station in Mahbubnagar district, the Committee found that the entries in General Diary, Prisoners Search Register and FIR were fabricated. The panel directed the Government to prosecute the Inspector and two constables and pay Rs. 2 lakhs compensation to Narasimha's widow, mother and children, by recovering the amounts from the policemen.

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