Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a young man named Mr. Jinesh died in judicial custody on 20 April 2004 allegedly due to severe torture by the jail officers at District Sub Jail, Calicut, Kerala, India. The victim’s mother and his relatives strongly believe that Mr. Jinesh was killed in the jail by the police or jail staff during abominable torture to get a forced confession. Severe injuries all over the body of the victim were found and the body was full of scars and bruises.
Please send a letter to the government of India requesting a fair and speedy investigation into this case and bring the perpetrators to justice immediately.
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:
Name of the victim: Mr. Jinesh (32), son of Nayayanan Nair, unmarried, a small peasant
Address of the victim: Vengassery Madathil House, Panangadu PO, Balusserry,Calicut, Kerala-673 612, India
Alleged perpetrators: Distict Jail Authorities, Calicut, Kerala State, India
Date of incident: 20 April 2004
Place of incident: District Sub Jail, Calicut, Kerala State, India
Case status: Under investigation
Case Details:
Mr. Jinesh was a small peasant and sole care taker of his ailing widowed mother. He was charged of possessing small quantity of liquor without proper records by the Balusserry Police Station (Criminal case no. 49/2000). The case is pending before the Fast Track Court, Calicut. Mr. Jinesh was reportedly not responding to summons issued by the court in the said case. Hence, on 16 February 2004, the police arrested him and produced him before the Magistrate who remanded him to judicial custody. He was thus taken to the sub jail at Calicut.
While he was in judicial custody, on 19 April 2004, Mr. Jinesh’s mother Gouriyamma went to jail to visit her son. However, the jail authorities flatly denied her written request without giving her any justifying reasons. Sad and desperate, she returned home and made arrangements for bailing out her son.
On the next day (20 April 2004), a police constable attached to the Balusserry Police Station, called Mr. Jinesh¡¯s mother and reported that her son died in judicial custody. Immediately the victim’s uncle Mr. Sankaran and his cousin Mr.Biju rushed to the sub jail at Calicut, but they were told from the jail authorities that the mortal remains of Mr. Jinesh could be collected from the Beach hospital, Calicut. When they went to the hospital, the hospital authorities told them that the jail staff brought the victim to the hospital on the same day at 7:20 am and the victim was declared dead much earlier than that. The victim’s relatives allege that the corpse of Mr. Jinesh was left unattended on the floor and no responsible staff, either from the jail or the police department, was found in the hospital.
According to the victim’s family, Mr. Jinesh was quite healthy and had no physical or mental ailments at the time of his arrest. He was not under any medical treatment nor had he under gone any serious medication.
Later an inquest was made by the Revenue Divisional Officer at the direction of the district collector. The police have registered a case for unnatural death. There were severe injuries all over the body of the victim. Some of them were apparently fatal. There were deep wounds on his face, back of his neck, hands and legs. Both his eyes were badly damaged, swollen, smashed and disfigured. Blood was found clotted in nostrils. The body was full of scars and bruises. It was obvious that the victim had been brutally tortured and his death was caused by the severe injuries and nasty wounds. The victim’s mother and his relatives strongly believe that Mr. Jinesh was killed in the jail by the police or jail staff during their abominable torture to get a forced confession.
The postmortem was done in Calicut Government Medical College and the body was buried in the premise of the victim’s house.
The injury marks over the victim’s body undoubtedly reveals the fact that he has undergone severe harassment in jail. In addition, the refusal of the jail authorities to allow his mother to meet her son in jail raises several questions. The victim’s family suspects that maybe Mr. Jinesh was already severely injured or dead due to torture at that time and that’s why the jail officer refused his mother to see the victim.
AHRC is gravely concerned by the death of Mr. Jinesh in judicial custody and request the government of India to conduct speedy and fair investigation into this matter and punish the person(s) responsible for the victim’s death according to the Indian Penal Code.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the addresses below and express your concern on this case.
1. Shri. A.P.J. Abdul kalam
President of India
Rashtrapathi Bhavan,
New Delhi -110001
INDIA
Tel: +91 11 23015321
Fax: + 91 11 23017290 / 23017824
E-mail: presidentofindia@rb.nic.in
2. Shri Justice A S Anand
Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission of India
Sardar Patel Bhawan
Sansad Marg, New Delhi – 110 001
INDIA
Tel: +91 11 2 334 0891 / 2334 7065
Fax: +91 11 2 334 0016
E-mail: mailto:chairnhrc@nic.in
3. Mr. A. K. Antony
Chief Minister of Kerala
Room No.141, IIIrd Floor,
North Block, Secretariat,
Thiruvananthapuram,
Kerala State
INDIA
Tel: +91 471 2 333812, 332184 (O) / 314853, 317051 (H)
Fax: +91 471 2 333682 (O) / 333489 (H)
E-mail: chiefminister@kerala.gov.in
4. Mr. K.M. Mani
Minister for Revenue and Law, Kerala State
Room No.216, 3rd Floor, North Sandwitch Block,
Government Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram
Kerala State
INDIA
Tel: +91 471 2 327876, 327976
Fax: +91 471 2 327876
E-mail: minister-revenue@kerala.gov.in
5. Mr. Theo C. van Boven
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917-9016
E-mail: secrt.hchr@unog.ch
6. Ms. Asma Jahangir
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions
c/o OHCHR-UNOG, 1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +92 42 5763 234
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 / +92 42 5763 236
Email: webadmin.hchr@unog.ch or asmalaw@brain.net.pk
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear
Re: A young man was allegedly tortured to death in judicial custody at the sub jail at Calicut, Kerala
Name of the victim: Mr. Jinesh (32), son of Nayayanan Nair, unmarried, a small peasant
Address of the victim: Vengassery Madathil House, Panangadu PO, Balusserry,Calicut, Kerala-673 612, India
Alleged perpetrators: Distict Jail Authorities, Calicut, Kerala State, India
Date of incident: 20 April 2004
Place of incident: District Sub Jail, Calicut, Kerala State, India
I am shocked to know about another custodial death reported from Kerala State, India.
Mr. Jinesh was arrested by the Balusserry Police on charge of possessing small quantity of illegal liquor (Criminal case no. 49/2000) and on 16 February 2004, he was remanded by the Magistrate. On 20 April 2004, the victim’s mother received a phone call from a police constable at the Balusserry Police Station reporting that her son died in judicial custody. Later an inquest was made by the Revenue Divisional Officer at the direction of the district collector. The postmortem was done in Calicut Government Medical College. It is reported that there were severe injuries all over the body of the victim. There were deep wounds on his face, back of his neck, hands and legs. Both his eyes were badly damaged, swollen, smashed and disfigured. Blood was found clotted in nostrils. The body was full of scars and bruises. Mr. Jinesh was quite healthy and had no physical or mental ailments at the time of his arrest.
It was obvious that the victim had been brutally tortured and his death was caused by the severe injuries and nasty wounds. The victim’s mother and the relatives strongly believe that Mr. Jinesh was killed in jail by the police or jail staff during their abominable torture to get a forced confession.
I therefore strongly urge you to take appropriate action to punish the perpetrator(s) responsible for the death of Mr. Jinesh. I also urge you to order a speedy and independent inquiry into the case and bring the perpetrators to justice as soon as possible. I further urge you to provide compensation to the victim’s family for the custodial death of Mr. Jinesh. Lastly, I request the Government of India to ratify the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and implement it into domestic law without delay.
Sincerely yours,
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Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
