INDIA: An ailing man died in the custody of Border Security Force( BSF) due to lack of medical help

[NOTICE: To facilitate your intervention of the urgent appeals issued by the AHRC, we have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of all the Indian authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the authorities are attached below with this appeal. Thank you.]

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a local partner organisation in West Bengal, India, regarding the custodial death of Mr. Ranjit Kumar Biswas, who was a 70 year-old ailing man. It is alleged that Mr Ranjit was arrested with his son and his wife while he was being taken to hospital, and that despite repeated requests by his son and wife, officers of the Border Security Forces (BSF) did nothing to provide medical assistant to Mr. Ranjit; as a result of this, Mr. Ranjit died in police custody.     

CASE DETAILS:

Mr. Ranjit Kumar Biswas was living in Bangaldesh as well as India. It is very common for people living close to the Indo-Bangladesh border to have family members living in India as well as Bangladesh. It is also very common in this part of the land that people have two different settlements in two different countries across the border. Mr. Ranjit Kumar Biswas had similar settlements; one in Nadia district in India and another in Jhenidaha District of Bangladesh. Parents with children settled in these two countries often cross borders once in a while to live with their children. Mr. Purnendu the eldest son of Mr. Ranjit, was settled in the Nawapara village, within the jurisdiction of Hanskhali police station in Nadia District, West Bengal, India.

On May 1, Mr. Ranjit, who had been suffering from some serious ailments, was being taken to the local hospital by his sons Mr. Purnendu Biswash and Biswajit Biswas, accompanied by his wife Mrs. Tripti Rani Biswas across the border from Bangladesh to India for medical treatment, when he was arrested by the B S F officers attached at the Farazipara Border Out Post (B.O.P.) of 90 Battalion, Jalangi, Murshidabad, India.

The family members of Mr. Ranjit told BSF officials about his critical health condition and requested that they provide immediate medical assistance to Mr. Ranjit; but BSF officers did nothing. Mr. Ranjit and his family were then detained under BSF custody.

The next day, on 2nd May at about 4.00 am, the BSF officers sent Mr. Ranjit and his wife to Sadikhan Dear Block Primary Health Center, where the attending doctor declared that Mr. Ranjit dead on arrival. It is alleged that the BSF officers committed gross negligence by refusing to provide the basic medical assistance to a person, who was seriously ill at the time of arrest.

It is reported that Mrs. Tripti Rani Biswas, the wife of the deceased is now also in a critical condition of health and is currently undergoing medical treatment at the Sadhi Khan Dear Block Primary Medical Center. Meanwhile, Mr. Nakul Mahato, the Block Development Officer of Jalangi conducted the inquest at the Sadhi Khan Dear Block Primary Medical Center and sent the body to Baharampur General Hospital for post mortem, which was carried out by Dr. Swapan Mondal.

It is reported that the Jalangi Police Station has registered a case against Mrs. Triptii Rani Biswas, Biswajit Biswas, Purnendu Biswas and the deceased Mr. Ranjit Biswash under section 14 of Foreigners (Amendment) Act, 2004.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

According to the Police Regulations of Bengal (1943), for each prisoner in a lock-up there should be 36 square feet of space, and immediate medical treatment when required. Nowhere in the state are these provisions met, and despite recent court orders to address the high number of custodial deaths, the rules are rarely applied. In fact, deaths occur daily in all government facilities, whether court lock-ups, police station lock-ups, prisons and other state centres.

Furthermore, the suffering of a victim and family does not end with death. The following are just some of the other obstacles which must be overcome in any attempt to obtain a modicum of justice:

First, after the person has died, the Criminal Procedure Code (1973) requires the police to notify a magistrate to carry out an inquest. In practice, police often do not contact any magistrate, and instead conduct the inquest themselves, disposing of it in a manner as to avoid any responsibility. 
Secondly, in the case of deaths in police custody, Judicial Magistrates should carry out the inquest. In West Bengal, however, Executive Magistrates do this job. The Executive Magistrates are under the Home Department, as are the police. Therefore, where inquests do occur, the alleged perpetrator (the police), prosecutor and judge all belong to the same organization.

Thirdly, for a custodial death case to go to court, the families of the victim have to initiate proceedings. However, in West Bengal, there are no independent judicial officers to handle the filing of cases. Instead, the police themselves are responsible for the keeping of records of Judicial (criminal) cases. Therefore, the family members of a victim go to lodge documents to begin a custodial death inquiry to the police, who are often friends and colleagues of the accused. Not surprisingly, the documents often disappear or they are frequently tampered with by the police, and there is no system in place to ensure that they are recorded as having been lodged.

This situation illustrates that the police control every aspect of the judicial system in West Bengal. From the time of arrest to conviction, imprisonment or death, police run the show.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the relevant authorities and ask for their immediate intervention in this matter. Please urge them to order a prompt and thorough investigation regarding the negligence of the concerning BSF officers and to take the proper steps in punishing the alleged perpetrators.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER