The Supreme Court has agreed to deliberate a petition that seeks criminal proceedings against police officers linked to a 2013 custodial demise in Faridabad, Haryana.
Anand Rai Kaushik has approached the highest court through his legal representative, advocate Rahul Gupta, challenging a November 2023 verdict from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In a ruling dated April 15, 2024, a bench consisting of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and PB Varale issued a notice returnable on July 26, 2024, requesting responses from the state government and the director general of police. Rai alleged that his brother, Satender Kaushik, passed away while in the custody of the NIT police station in Faridabad on July 25, 2013.
Kaushik contends that the authorities detained his brother without an FIR on the basis of a hotel manager’s complaint concerning alleged unpaid dues. Police officials claim that the deceased ended his life by hanging from a toilet window in the station.
The high court refused Rai’s request for registering a criminal complaint and shifting the investigation to the CBI or an alternate investigative body.
The appeal, lodged in the Supreme Court, argued that the high court committed errors both in law and factual interpretation by dismissing the petition under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which would have directed an inquiry into the matter given the nature of the custodial death.
The plea stated the high court should have acknowledged that the demise occurred under police supervision and an appropriate investigation was not undertaken.
The high court, in its ruling, cited a co-ordinate bench’s order from March 11, 2015, which reviewed the judicial inquiry, police station diary records, and the postmortem report by a medical board. The court concluded there was no evidence of foul play in the case.
The high court mentioned that the previous bench had opted for a compassionate stance and sanctioned compensation due to the death occurring under police surveillance.
However, the petitioner refused to accept the compensation offered by the District Legal Service Authority, Faridabad, and the National Human Rights Commission.
