SC issues notice to Centre, NHRC over custodial deaths

Based on a PIL, the Supreme Court directed the Centre and NHRC to provide data over 'custodial deaths' and also sought a reply over the functioning of State Human Rights Commissions across the country.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Centre and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to submit data on custodial deaths and reply on whether the State Human Rights Commissions are functioning across the country.

The directions have come in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that had highlighted alarming figures on custodial deaths from NHRC and the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

As per the NHRC data of 2017-18, about 1636 intimations were received concerning death in judicial custody and 148 intimations of death in police custody.

The prosecution was recommended in just two cases by the NHRC and departmental enquiry in only 38 cases. That amounts to around 2% of the cases.

As per the NCRB data of 2017, as many as 70 cases of custodial deaths were recorded, however, only five charge sheets were filed with zero convictions.