Chennai: The Madras high court has directed authorities to identify next of kin of prisoners who have died between 2012 and 2015 as per report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Initiating suo moto proceedings based on the recent verdict of the Supreme Court in connection with custodial deaths, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M. Sunder said “in terms of the judgment dated September 15, 2017, of the Supreme Court we initiate suo moto public interest petition to identify next of kin of the prisoners who have admittedly died an unnatural death as revealed by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) during the period between 2012 and 2015 and thereafter for awarding suitable compensation except whom adequate compensation was already been awarded.”
Subsequently, the bench has issued a notice to Advocate General Vijay Narayan and posted the matter for further hearing to October 30, 2017.
While dealing with custodial violence, the apex court has observed that there was no documentation on the number of unnatural deaths (if any) of children in child care institutions and this should now be on the agenda of the Central Government and the state governments (particularly the department concerned with the welfare of children) with far greater concern than has been shown so far.
“The unnatural death of any child in need of care and protection or in conflict with the law and in a child care institution needs attention since it is these voiceless children who need to be heard. It is time that unnatural deaths of children in child care institutions are seriously looked into by all concerned if we are to provide the children of our country with a better future”, the apex court had observed.
The Supreme Court requested the Chief Justice of the high court to register a suo moto PIL with a view to identifying the next kin of the prisoners who have admittedly died an unnatural death as revealed by the NCRB between 2012 and 2015 and even thereafter, and award suitable compensation unless adequate compensation has already been awarded.
