Jharkhand High Court has expressed serious concern over the absence of mandatory judicial inquiries into custodial death cases, directing the state home secretary to file a comprehensive affidavit on the matter, people aware of the development said on Thursday.
Hearing a PIL by Mohd Mumtaz Ansari, represented by his counsel Mohd Shadab Ansari, a division bench comprising Chief Justice MS Sonak and Justice Rajesh Shankar took note of data revealing that between 2018 to 2025, approximately 437 persons died in police or judicial custody in the state.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on March 19, with the affidavit required to be submitted by March 13.
“The court has observed that while the affidavit filed by home department principal secretary Vandana Dadel included a chart listing the deaths, it largely failed to specify whether judicial magistrates had conducted the mandatory inquiries required under Section 176(1-A) of the CrPC (and its corresponding provision, Section 196 of BNSS, 2023),” advocate Ansari told HT on Thursday.
“Therefore, information about whether any inquiry was held by the judicial magistrate in relation to these 437 deaths is crucial,” the court stated in its order, copy of which is with HT.
{{/usCountry}}“Therefore, information about whether any inquiry was held by the judicial magistrate in relation to these 437 deaths is crucial,” the court stated in its order, copy of which is with HT.
{{/usCountry}}The Bench emphasised that the law mandated a judicial inquiry in addition to any police investigation when a death occurred in custody. The petitioner’s counsel argued that in most cases, not only were judicial inquiries absent, but the relatives of the deceased were also not informed of the proceedings.
The court has directed the home secretary to provide a detailed affidavit clarifying in how many cases judicial inquiries were held, the compliance with the BNSS provisions, and whether the National Human Rights Commission guidelines were followed.