Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the state police chief in connection with the death of a man due to alleged custodial torture in Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh. In a statement, the NHRC said that in an attempt to “cover up the incident”, some policemen also allegedly illegally detained the family members of the victim at the police station. The NHRC took suo motu cognizance of a media report that “a man died due to custodial torture in police district of Jalaun in Uttar Pradesh.”

UP government received notice from NHRC
The statement said that the news published on July 15 reported that the policemen had allegedly fled leaving the body of the victim outside the emergency ward of the district hospital without any information. Accordingly, the commission has issued a notice to the chief secretary and director general of police of Uttar Pradesh to submit a detailed report within two weeks, the statement said. The commission also said that the Jalaun police authorities did not send any information to it within 24 hours as per its standing guidelines regarding death in police or judicial custody.

NHRC sought reply from Jalaun Superintendent of Police
The statement said that therefore the Superintendent of Police of Jalaun has been directed to explain within a week why this case of custodial death was not reported to the Commission within 24 hours. Let us tell you that this is not the first time that a person has died in police custody. Let us tell you that now it remains to be seen in this case how the Uttar Pradesh government and the UP Police Chief are going to respond to the notice of the Human Rights Commission.