Allahabad HC asks CBI to recover missing videographic evidence in custodial death case

The Allahabad High Court has ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI to recover missing videographic evidence related to the alleged custodial death of a physically challenged man in Mainpuri, observing that the 17-year-old case discloses institutional failures.A bench comprising Justices Atul Sreedharan and Siddharth Nandan on Monday passed the order on a public interest litigation PIL filed in the matter related to the alleged 2009 custodial death of one Nahar Singh who died inside the lockup of Dannahar police station in Mainpuri district.This case discloses institutional failures.

The Allahabad High Court has ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to recover missing videographic evidence related to the alleged custodial death of a physically challenged man in Mainpuri, observing that the 17-year-old case discloses ''institutional failures''.

A bench comprising Justices Atul Sreedharan and Siddharth Nandan on Monday passed the order on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the matter related to the alleged 2009 custodial death of one Nahar Singh who died inside the lockup of Dannahar police station in Mainpuri district.

''This case discloses institutional failures. This is a PIL filed in the year 2010 and is still pending. Sixteen years down the line, the videography and the photographs of the scene of occurrence and the postmortem are not being made available to this Court to enable it to proceed further,'' the court said.

Nahar Singh who suffered from 40 per cent physical disability was found hanging in the urinal section of the police lockup on May 9, 2009. Police claimed he committed suicide using his belt.

However, the court questioned the plausibility of the official version noting that a police lockup remains under constant surveillance and is not an isolated space.

The bench observed that despite the case being pending since 2010, critical evidence including videography and photographs of the scene of occurrence and the postmortem report had not been produced before the court till date.

The PIL was filed by the Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives (AALI), an organization working for the rights of women and marginalized communities.

Advocate Ankur Sharma appearing for petitioner highlighted the issue of rising custodial death cases in the state.

The court directed the CBI's Anti-Corruption Branch in Ghaziabad to secure the missing recordings within 60 days and present them before the court while fixing August 10 as the next date of hearing in the case.