INDIA: Custodial death / suicide in West Bengal 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM in West Bengal that a person named Mr. Raja Mondal was allegedly arrested on 11 September 2004 and detained by the Siliguri police in West Bengal and that he was not produced before the concerned magistrate by the police. AHRC is also informed that being frustrated by the detention without being produced before a magistrate, the victim committed suicide by consuming chemical used for polishing wood which was available at the police station. The victim’s relatives and human rights activists also content that the availability of such a chemical for the victim casts a shadow upon the death since under any circumstances the detainees in a police cell should not have access to any other articles kept at the police station.

It is common practice by Indian police that people are arrested and detained without registering a formal charge and not being produced before the local magistrate though the domestic law mandates that on arrest the person must be produced before the local magistrate within 24 hrs. This case is yet another example of such violation of legal mandates.

Your urgent action is required to take speedy remedial measures in such gross violation of human rights and blatant violation of procedural laws.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of the victim: Raja Mondal, resident of South Colony, New Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India.
Alleged perpetrators: 1) Officer in charge, Siliguri police station, West Bengal, India
Date of the incident: 13 September 2004
Place of the incident: Siliguri police station, New Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal, India.

Account of the incident:

The victim Raja Mondal was allegedly arrested on 11 September 2004 on charges of dacoity by the Siliguri police. It is alleged that several cases of similar nature were pending investigation against the victim. It is reported that while the victim was detained at the police station he consumed liquid chemical used for wood polishing and thus committed suicide.

The police claim that though the victim was immediately taken to the Sub-Divisional Government hospital at Siliguri he died at the hospital. AHRC came to know that the victim was detained without being produced before the local magistrate though he was arrested on 11 September. It is also reported that an access to such a chemical by the victim while he was under custody is highly suspicious given the fact that the detainees must have been under observation of guards posted at the police cell.

It is also reported that there is a camera installed at the police lock up. In such a situation what happened inside the lockup and the victim’s actions while he was in custody must have been recorded by the camera. Apart from this it is also important to note in this case that though the victim was arrested on 11 September, he was yet to be produced before the local magistrate though the domestic law mandates that any person arrested must be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of such arrest.

It is pertinent to note two important features of policing in India in this case. (1) the manner in which detainees are kept in police station & (2) the blatant violation of procedural laws by the police in the country which results in gross violation of human rights. AHRC has called upon the international community on several occasions requesting to respond to such violation of rights by the Indian police and this case is yet another example.

Since India is yet to ratify the International Convention against Torture, the country lacks any domestic law which ensures impartial inquiry into such cases of custodial death. AHRC has also reported in numerous occasions that the postmortem examination, which is vital and plays a pivotal role in such cases of suspicious death, is in a pathetic situation where no credibility could be fastened to such examination reports since generally postmortem examinations are conducted by unqualified persons like helpers and manual laborers at the mortuary. So also the very fact that any such internal evidence regarding the actions of the victim while he was in custody, which ought to have been recorded by the camera installed at the police station could also have been lost since there are every chance for the police to destroy any such evidence if the death was due to any custodial torture, which is very prevalent and brutal in India.

Incidents of such gross violation of law and human rights happen regularly in India. AHRC urges the Indian government to ratify the CAT and to introduce corresponding domestic legislation to prevent state agencies from committing such human rights violations.

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