New Delhi

Court enhances compensation

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has enhanced the compensation in a custody death case from Rs.3 lakh to 5 lakh. A Single-Judge Bench had earlier granted the compensation of Rs.3 lakh to the family of the deceased, Mahender. His wife Sunita pleaded for a higher compensation on the ground that it was not in proportion to the loss she had suffered due to the death of her husband. Allowing the plea, the Court said there was merit in her argument.

Mahender had died in police custody in 1999. The police had arrested him late at night with Rs.1.30 lakh in cash on the suspicion that he might have committed robbery. Sunita in her petition submitted that her husband was actually carrying the cash to give it to her sister, who was suffering from cancer, for treatment. She further said that of the total amount he had taken Rs.68,000 from his Provident Fund account and had borrowed the remainder as loan from his friends.

Mahender had died in Bara Hindu Rao Hospital where the police had taken him for treatment following a deterioration in his health.

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