Says Prisoner Cannot Be Deprived Of His Constitutional Rights Except
By M Ahmad
Srinagar- Observing that a prisoner cannot be deprived of his constitutional rights except in accordance with law, the J&K and High Court on Friday awarded Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the family of an undertrial who was killed by co-prisoner inside central jail here in 2013.
A bench of Justice Sanjay Dhar rejected State’s contention that it cannot be held to be negligent given the fact that death was caused by stone which the co-prisoner had pulled from the wall of the jail being an “old-structure”.
“The respondents (State authorities) have themselves admitted that jail building is very old and the co-prisoner managed to take out a stone from the wall of the jail which he used as a weapon of attack upon the deceased,” the court said, adding, “The fact that the respondent State has failed to properly manage the jail barracks and allowed condition of the same to deteriorate to such a level that a co-prisoner was able to take out a stone/brick from the wall, shows clear negligence and callousness on the part of the respondents”.
This negligence and callousness on the part of authorities, the court said, has resulted in death of the deceased inside the jail.
“The jail authorities have, therefore, failed to ensure safety and security of the unfortunate undertrial prisoner. Therefore, respondents cannot escape their responsibility for the custodial death of the deceased,” the court said.
The court said that even though the deceased, Mohammad Ismail Shah, was an undertrial in a murder case, the authorities were not absolved of their liability to ensure his safety and security in the jail.
“A prisoner cannot be deprived of his constitutional rights except in accordance with law. Therefore, the deceased in the instant case despite being an undertrial prisoner in a murder case was entitled to protection by the jail authorities,” the court said, adding, “Since his killing took place while he was in jail, he was deprived of his life in contravention of the law.”
Shah’s untimely death, the court said, has deprived his widow, sons and daughters of his love and affection as also his company, as such, they are entitled to compensation from the authorities whose “negligence” has resulted in his untimely death.
“Having regard to the age of the deceased, who, as per the postmortem report, was 48 years old at the relevant time, and keeping in view the fact that all the children of the deceased are major, ends of justice would be met if an amount of Rs.5.00 (lakh) is awarded as compensation in favour of the petitioners (widow and children) to be paid by the respondents,” the court said and accordingly directed the government to pay Rs 5 lakh within three months.
“In case the amount of compensation is not paid to the petitioners within the aforesaid period, it shall carry interest @ 6% per annum from the date of this judgment.”
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