Father gets Rs 18 lakh compensation 8 yrs after son's custody death. 'Balm to the wounds', says court
Emphasising the sanctity of life, Justice Sachin Datta said a person in custody does not lose their fundamental rights, and an unnatural death in a police station is a matter of “systemic concern, striking at the very foundation of the rule of law”. “The state cannot escape responsibility by invoking statutory schemes or by contending absence of direct culpability. The very fact of custodial death, being unnatural, attracts liability and obliges the court to mould relief in the form of compensation,” the order read.
Explanation in simple terms: A man's father received Rs 18 lakh (approximately $21,600) in compensation eight years after his son died while in police custody. The court ruled that the government must pay this money because people in police custody keep their basic rights, and unexpected deaths there are serious violations of the law. The judge stated that the state is responsible for protecting those in custody, even if police didn't directly cause the death.