The Supreme Court has stayed further proceedings before the Allahabad High Court in a public interest litigation concerning the alleged custodial death of a physically disabled man in Mainpuri in 2009.
The Apex Court agreed to examine an order of the High Court directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to trace and recover missing videographic evidence while making strong observations against the Uttar Pradesh Police, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and even the High Court’s own handling of the matter.
The Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta issued notice on appeals filed by the State of Uttar Pradesh and Ajay Kumar Mishra, the then Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Mainpuri, who is presently serving as Inspector General of Police, Prayagraj Range. The Bench ordered that all further proceedings in the pending PIL before the Allahabad High Court shall remain stayed until further orders.
During the hearing, Senior Advocate and Senior Additional Advocate General Sharan DevSingh Thakur, appearing for the State, argued that the High Court’s order contained sweeping and adverse remarks not only against the State Police but also against the Allahabad High Court and the NHRC. He urged the Supreme Court to examine both the factual findings and the legal validity of the directions issued on May 18.
Accepting the submission, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the matter in detail and granted an interim stay on the proceedings before the High Court.
The case originates from a PIL filed in 2010 by the Association for Advocacy and LegalInitiatives (AALI), which sought an independent investigation into the death of a man with 40% physical disability inside the lock-up of Dannahar Police Station, Mainpuri, on May 9,2009.
According to the official police version, the man died by suicide after hanging himself with his belt inside the lock-up. However, in its May 18 judgment, a Division Bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Siddharth Nandan expressed serious reservations about this explanation. The High Court observed that it was “almost an impossibility” for a person with such a disability to commit suicide in a police lock-up without attracting the attention of officers responsible for constant surveillance.
Describing the case as emblematic of “institutional failures,” the High Court noted that despite the PIL remaining pending for nearly 16 years, the videography and photographs of the scene of occurrence and the post-mortem examination had still not been produced before it. The Bench observed that the prolonged pendency had likely resulted in the disappearance of vital evidence.
The High Court also criticised its own handling of the case, observing that a custodial death matter should have been concluded within a few months through continuous judicial monitoring rather than remaining unresolved for over a decade and a half.
The State Police was similarly criticised for failing to explain the disappearance of the videographic evidence despite repeated court directions. The High Court remarked that the police appeared to be shifting responsibility to the NHRC and observed that the continued non-production of the recordings could indicate an attempt to conceal the true circumstances surrounding the death.
The Bench further questioned the official theory of suicide after referring to the post-mortem findings, which reportedly recorded a knot mark behind the ear and fractures of the tracheal rings. According to the High Court, these injuries appeared more consistent with strangulation than hanging by a leather belt. It observed that the missing video footage could have conclusively established whether the death was a case of suicide or otherwise.
The High Court was equally critical of the NHRC, which had closed the complaint in 2011 after accepting the police account. It observed that the Commission appeared to have undertaken no independent investigation, recorded no statements of material witnesses, and relied entirely on the police version, raising concerns over the manner in which custodial death complaints were being dealt with.
With the Supreme Court now staying further proceedings, the legality of the Allahabad High Court’s directions and observations will come under scrutiny before the apex court.
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