The Allahabad High Court criticised the National Human Rights Commission for allegedly accepting the police version “as gospel truth” while closing the 2009 custodial death case of disabled man Nahar Singh, also known as Sneh, in 2011.
The Allahabad High Court has strongly criticised the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for allegedly accepting the police version “as gospel truth” while closing a custodial death case involving a disabled man in 2011.
The case concerns the death of Nahar Singh, also known as Sneh, who was found dead inside a police lockup in 2009 under suspicious circumstances.
Although the NHRC had closed the matter years ago after concluding that the victim had died by suicide allegedly due to “frustration from love affair,” the controversy surrounding the custodial death remained alive because of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed before the High Court in 2010 by Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives seeking an independent investigation into the incident.
High Court Questions NHRC Investigation
In an order passed on May 18, a Division Bench comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Siddharth Nandan expressed serious dissatisfaction with the manner in which the NHRC had handled the case. The Court observed that the human rights body had failed to independently verify crucial facts and had merely relied upon reports submitted by the police and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM).
ALSO READ: Madras HC Orders CB-CID Probe, Appoints Judge in Sivaganga Custodial Death Case
According to the Bench, the NHRC did not record statements of the victim’s father or any neutral family witnesses during its inquiry. The Court also noted that the statement of the woman with whom the deceased was allegedly in a relationship had not been recorded either.
The Bench said,
“Instead, the report of the NHRC has simply accepted the reports given by the SDM and the police as gospel truth without appreciating that in a case of custodial death, the police and the State administration are the most interested parties in order to hush up the crime and pass the same off as a suicide. If this is all that the NHRC was required to do and close the case of custodial death purely on the version given by the police which is an interested party, without seeking independent evidence from neutral witnesses within the family of the deceased, calls into question the very existence of the NHRC,”
The Court’s observations reflected concern over the functioning of institutions expected to independently examine allegations involving custodial violence and abuse of power. Significantly, the High Court also acknowledged shortcomings in its own handling of the case over the past several years.
The Bench observed that a matter involving allegations of custodial death required urgent and continuous judicial monitoring, particularly in order to secure and preserve crucial evidence such as videography and photographs connected to the incident.
The Court observed,
“A case of this nature ought to have been concluded within three months from the date of its first listing with sustained pressure on the State to produce the videography,”
The Bench further remarked:
“Disturbingly, the first institution that failed in this endeavour of unearthing the truth is this Court. The subject matter of the PIL was such that it warranted urgency and repeated listings with short dates to protect evidence and ensure their production before this Court for it to satisfy itself, that the contention of the State that the Nahar Singh committed suicide in the urinal of the lock up was true, and that there was no parallel hypothesis to that story,”
The Court acknowledged that the prolonged procedural delay spanning nearly sixteen years may have enabled authorities to obscure or destroy vital evidence connected to the case.
During earlier proceedings, the State had informed the Court that photographs and videography related to the custodial death had already been forwarded to the NHRC. Based on that submission, the High Court had directed the NHRC to return those materials to the State authorities.
However, in its latest order, the Court expressed doubts regarding the State’s version after noticing that the NHRC report made no reference whatsoever to any such videographic evidence. The Bench observed that this raised reasonable suspicion that the video recordings may never have been handed over to the NHRC and might have remained in police custody throughout.
Given the repeated failure to secure the evidence, the Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to trace and recover the missing recordings.
The Bench ordered,
“As repeated attempts by this Court to secure the videography relevant in this case, which was done almost sixteen years ago have borne no fruit and with the State and the police being evasive in their response, this Court directs the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) through its ACB office at Ghaziabad, to secure those video recordings within a period of sixty days from the date of this order,”
The High Court also referred to observations in the postmortem report that allegedly contradicted the police theory of suicide. According to the police version, Nahar Singh had hanged himself inside the lockup using a leather belt.
However, the Bench noted that the postmortem report mentioned the presence of a knot impression behind the victim’s ear, which, according to the Court, appeared inconsistent with death caused by hanging through a leather belt.
It added,
“The continued attempts by this Court to secure the videography are on account of an observation in the postmortem report, which while recording the external ante-mortem injuries, notes the presence of a knot mark/knot impression on the right side behind the ear. The same is inconsistent with the story of the police which says that the deceased hanged himself using his leather belt. If that be the case, the doctor conducting the postmortem should have seen the impression of the belt buckle on the neck and not a knot mark,”
The Bench observed that there existed a reasonable possibility that the victim may have been strangulated first and later hanged inside the lockup in an attempt to portray the death as suicide and avoid allegations of custodial torture or murder.
The High Court has now directed further steps for securing evidence and continuing investigation into the custodial death.
The matter is scheduled to be taken up again on August 10, when the Court is expected to review the progress made by the CBI in tracing the missing videographic evidence and examine further aspects of the long-pending custodial death case.
Case Title: Association For Advocacy And Legal Initiatives Lko V State of UP and Others
FOLLOW US FOR MORE LEGAL UPDATES ON YOUTUBE
