Page No.# 1/10 GAHC010174952024 undefined THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : WP(C)/4397/2024 KALYANI TUDU AND 2 ORS W/O- LATE JUNASH MARDI @ LATE JONASH MARDI, R/O- VILLAGE- NO-2. KANUPARA, P.O- GURUFELA. P.S- KACHUGAON, DIST- KOKRAJHAR, BTAD, ASSAM, PIN-783360 2: LATHIF MARDI S/O- LATE JUNASH MARDI @ LATE JONASH MARDI R/O- VILLAGE- NO-2. KANUPARA P.O- GURUFELA. P.S- KACHUGAON DIST- KOKRAJHAR BTAD ASSAM PIN-783360 3: LIPIKA MARDI S/O- LATE JUNASH MARDI @ LATE JONASH MARDI R/O- VILLAGE- NO-2. KANUPARA P.O- GURUFELA. P.S- KACHUGAON DIST- KOKRAJHAR BTAD ASSAM PIN-78336 VERSUS Page No.# 2/10 THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 6 ORS. REP. BY THE PRINCIPAL SECRETARY TO THE GOVT. OF ASSAM, HOME DEPARTMENT, DISPUR, GUWAHATI - 6. 2:THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY TO THE GOVT. OF ASSAM DEPARTMENT OF PRISON DISPUR GUWAHATI -06 ASSAM 3:THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF PRISON ASSAM KHANAPARA GUWAHATI-22 4:THE DISTRICT COMMISSIONER KOKRAJHAR BTAD ASSAM PIN-783370 5:THE SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE KOKRAJHAR BTAD ASSAM PIN-783370 6:THE SUPERINTENDENT DISTRICT JAIL KOKRAJHAR BTAD ASSAM PIN-783370 7:THE JAILOR DISTRICT JAIL KOKRAJHAR BTAD ASSAM PIN-78337 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. K R PATGIRI, MS. D. DEVI,MS K BARMAN,MS Page No.# 3/10 CHITRALEKHA DAS Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM, BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE KALYAN RAI SURANA HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE SUSMITA PHUKAN KHAUND ORDER Date : 01.11.2025 (K.R Surana, J) Heard Mr. K.R. Patgiri, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. D. Nath, Senior Govt. Advocate for the State. 2. The petitioner no.1 in this case is the wife of Late Junash Mardi @ Late Jonash Mardi, who when alive was an active member of an organization namely, Santal Tiger Force. Petitioner nos. 2 and 3 are the minor son and daughter of the petitioner no.1 and the deceased. 3. Pursuant to an incident that occurred on 15.10.2017, the husband of the petitioner no.1 was arrested in connection with Kachugaon Police Station Case No. 56/2017, corresponding to PRC Case No. 06/2018 under Sections 457/380/511 IPC. On investigation, Charge Sheet No.43/2017 dated 30.11.2017 was submitted before the Court of learned Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (M), Gossaigaon. In the interim, the husband of the petitioner no.1 was released on bail. However, on his failure to attend learned Trial Court, pursuant to Non-Bailable Warrant of Arrest issued by the learned Trial Court, the husband of the petitioner no.1 was taken into custody on 25.01.2023 and produced Page No.# 4/10 before the learned Trial Court. 4. It appears that the husband of the petitioner no.1 had suffered injuries on 03.02.2023 while in jail custody and the materials available on record shows that the husband of the petitioner no.1 had climbed up a ‘Ahad’ tree and fell down while being asked to come down and in the process suffered injuries on his right leg. As per the discharge certificate dated 30.03.2023, the husband of the petitioner no.1 had suffered subtrochanteric femur fracture (right) with fracture calcul….(not readable) right foot with pubic rami fracture with burst fracture L2 spine sustained following alleged history of fall from height on---- (illegible) at 7.00pm without distal neurovascular deficit. However, on perusal of the Trial Court records, which is annexed to this writ petition, it appears that the injured inmate was produced before the learned Trial Court, which took cognizance of the injuries suffered by the husband of the petitioner no.1. Thereafter, the authorities of District Jail, Kokrajhar reported alleged suicide by the husband of the petitioner no.1 on 27.07.2023 with a gamosa at the late night latrine of the Medical Ward of the hospital and accordingly, the In-Charge of Gurufella Police Outpost informed the petitioner no.1 about the death of her husband. It is submitted that the jail authorities, without following any procedure conducted the post-mortem examination without prior consent from the next of kin and the dead body was handed to the petitioners on 28.07.2023. 5. Referring to the injuries, which were found in the body of the deceased, it is alleged that the husband of the petitioner no.1 suffered torture and it is alleged that the husband of the petitioner no.1 was killed by the jail authorities in view of the wound that were visible in the right and left knee, toe nail and Page No.# 5/10 that the hyoid bone was not fractured. 6. It is alleged that an inquiry was conducted regarding the incident of death of the husband of the petitioner no.1. The petitioners have not been informed about the outcome of the inquiry alleging that the case may not be of suspected to be suicidal but a case of police brutality. 7. The present writ petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India with prayer for calling of the records of PRC Case No.06/2018, to order setting up of a judicial enquiry, call for the records available from the District Jail, Kokrajhar and for directing the respondent authorities to pay compensation to the petitioners to the extent of Rs.20,00,000/- (Rupees Twenty Lakh only). 8. As the order sheets of the learned Trial Court record is available on record and the inquiry report by One Man Committee, regarding the death of the deceased under trial prisoner was conducted by the learned Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (M), Gossaigaon, the learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that there would be no requirement to call for the records from the learned Trial Court or regarding the inquiry conducted by the learned Sub- Divisional Judicial Magistrate (M), Gossaigaon. 9. At this stage, the learned Senior Government Advocate referred to the order dated 28.07.2023 passed by the learned Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (M), Gossaigaon, in connection with PRC Case No. 06/2018, has submitted that in the official record of the prison including the inquest report, post-mortem Page No.# 6/10 report, the name of the deceased is noted as Joseph Mardi. However, in the said order dated 28.07.2023, the learned Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (M), Gossaigaon had clarified that due to inadvertent typographical error in the name of the deceased, the name Joseph Mardi is noted in the custody instead of Jonash Mardi. Accordingly, the said learned Court had also clarified that in the medical report, his name is mentioned as Joseph Mardi, which ought to have been Jonash Mardi and in the case records, the name of the deceased is reflected as Joseph Mardi @ Jonash Mardi and accordingly, the said learned Court had further recorded that since the identity of the under trial prisoner is not disputed and it is also not a disputed fact that Joseph Mardi and Jonash Mardi is one and same person, it was clarified that the name of Joseph Mardi in the custody warrant shall be read as Jonash Mardi. 10. Thus, as per the order dated 28.07.2023, in the PRC Case No.06/2018, the learned Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (M), Gossaigaon has clarified that Joseph Mardi and Jonash Mardi is one and same person being the husband of the petitioner no.1 and father of the petitioner nos. 2 and 3. 11. It is observed from the contents of the inquiry report that though the dead body of the deceased had marks of injury of right and left legs visible and that blood was seen from both legs from the knee and feet of the deceased, but the said injuries are not found to be reported as ‘fresh injuries’ of recent origin in the post-mortem report. As per the inquest report, the ligature mark was noted as ‘oblique’ which is generally considered to be suicidal and that in the post-mortem report, the opinion expressed was to the effect that the cause of death is asphyxia due to hanging which is suicidal in nature and ante-mortem Page No.# 7/10 in nature and moreover, toxicology report of the viscera does not indicate a case of death by poison, but suicidal death of the deceased, which prima facie appears from the inquest report and the post-mortem report. 12. 12. The learned Senior Government Advocate opposing any financial aid on account of death of the deceased, submits that as the death was suicidal and that the death was not because of custodial torture, coupled with the fact that the deceased on an earlier occasion on 02.02.2023, there is no evidence on materials of record to show that the police personnel or the personnel employed in the jail, through their covert or overt act had contributed in the abatement of the suicide of the deceased. 13. The Supreme Court of India in the case of In re: Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons", reported in (2017) 10 SCC 658, in paragraph-55 thereof had observed that it is important for the Central Government and State Government to realise that person who suffers an unnatural death in a prison are also victims- sometime of a crime and sometime of negligence and apathy or both and accordingly, it was held that there is no reasons to exclude their next of kins from receiving compensation only because the victim died of unnatural death, was a criminal. The said decision was followed by this Court in the case of Ali Hassan @ Hassan Ansari –vs- x x x & Ors, decided by an co-ordinate Bench on 13.09.2023, wherein under similar circumstances, when the deceased died inside the police lock-up, his next of kins were entitled to compensation by following the direction contained in the Notification dated 01.02.2019, which was issued in exercise of power under Clause 5 (9) of the Assam Victim Compensation Scheme, 2012, whereby compensation payable to the victim in Page No.# 8/10 case of death is provided as Rs.5,00,000/- (Rupees Five Lakh only). 14. At this stage, the learned Senior Government Advocate has produced a copy of another Notification issued on 27.12.2024 by the Home and Political Department, whereby the next of kin of victim who are prisoners who commit suicide, their compensation is Rs.3,00,000/- (Rupees Three Lakh only). In this regard, we note that as per Clause 9 of the said notification, the policy would be applicable in cases of unnatural death of inmates occurring on or after the date of issuance notification of this policy. Therefore, as this policy was not applicable on the date when the husband of petitioner no.1 had died allegedly by suicide, the Court is of the considered opinion that in the present case in hand, the petitioners, being the next of kin of the deceased, would be entitled to compensation as provided vide Notification dated 01.02.2019, which quantifies compensation of Rs.5,00,000/- (Rupees Five Lakh only ) on account of such death which is at par with the decision of this Court in the case of in Ali Hassan @ Hassan Ansari. 15. Accordingly, the Court is inclined to hold that the deceased Joseph Mardi @ Jonash Mardi who falls in the category of ‘victim’ of as per the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of in re: Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons (supra) and accordingly, the Court is inclined to hold that the State Government through its appropriate authority being the Home and Political Department would be liable to pay compensation of Rs. Rs.5,00,000/-(Rupees Five Lakh only) to the petitioners on account of them being the next of kin of the deceased Joseph Mardi @ Jonash Mardi in the following manner: Page No.# 9/10 (a) A sum of Rs.2,00,000/- (Rupees Two Lakh only) each be converted into, two fixed deposits of Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lakh only) each for a period of 5 years in the name of Lathif Mardi (petitioner no.2) and Lipika Mardi (petitioner no.3); and (b) The balance amount of Rs.3,00,000/- (Rupees Three Lakh only) shall be released to the petitioner no.1, Kalyani Tudi in her bank account for which the petitioner no.1 shall provide her bank accounts particulars to the Secretary to the Government of Assam, Home and Political Department along with the certified copy of the order. 16. Thereupon, the Secretary to the Government of Assam, Home and Political Department shall verify whether the persons approaching the said authority are the next of kin of the deceased Joseph Mardi @ Jonash Mardi and on being satisfied with regard to their identity, make disbursement in the manner as indicated above. 17. It is also provided that in the event, any other person claims to be the left out next of kin of the deceased, the Secretary to the Government of Assam, Home and Political Department shall make an endeavour to cause inquiry and apportion the compensation amount between such claimants and the petitioner no.1. 18. The Secretary to the Government of Assam, Home and Political Department, on receipt of the certified copy of this order and proof of identity, shall pass necessary orders for disbursement of the amount as indicated in the Page No.# 10/10 foregoing paragraphs within the outer limit of 3(three) months from the date of receipt of the certified copy of the order. 19. The observation of the Court with regard to the suicidal death is only a prima facie opinion and not a conclusive opinion and therefore, the petitioners would have the liberty to move the appropriate forum/Court in case the petitioners feel that the death was homicidal by filing objection to the Final Report or in such other manner as the petitioners may be so advised. 20. The writ petition stands allowed to the extent as indicated above. 21. No order as to costs. JUDGE JUDGE Comparing Assistant