New Delhi, Jul 13 (PTI) It is the duty of the State to ensure the safety and well-being of prisoners in its custody and "gangs" are not permitted to proliferate in jails, the Delhi High Court has said while granting compensation to the kin of a person who died in a fight between two groups of inmates in prison.
The high court said the State, owing a duty to ensure the security of the general public, including persons who are incarcerated, has a responsibility to compensate in cases of unnatural deaths in custody.
Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar directed the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) to pay Rs 3 lakh compensation to the kin of deceased Javed, out of which Rs 1 lakh was earlier paid to his mother (now deceased).
"This court is of the firm opinion that it is the bounden duty of the State to ensure the safety of persons who are in its custody. While the deceased victim may have been a person with criminal antecedents, the State is not absolved of its duty to ensure the safety and well-being of the prisoners in its custody," the high court said in its judgment passed on Thursday.
The court said the fact that two 'rival gangs', according to the contention of the authorities, chose to have an altercation and that the victim participated in it, "would not absolve the authorities of their bounden responsibility" to carry out their duty of ensuring the safety and security of prisoners.
The court was of the view that part of the duties of the State is to ensure that such "gangs" are not permitted to proliferate in jails and certainly to ensure that such gang rivalries are not permitted to come to the fore.
The court said the fact that such an altercation took place and two "rival gangs" had access to weapons or tools, by which they have been able to cause injuries to each other, leading to the death of Javed, speaks highly of the manner in which the jail authorities have dispensed their duties.
The petition seeking compensation was initially filed by Javed's mother who said he had served seven-year imprisonment in a criminal case and was to come out from jail on May 5, 2013.
However, on May 3, 2013, she was informed of the death of her son and the cause was apparently a fight between two groups of inmates in the jail.
The woman, who was granted an interim compensation of Rs 1 lakh, died in 2016.
Thereafter, Javed's siblings and their children pursued the litigation and urged the court to grant them compensation on the claim that they were dependent on him.
The court concluded that the State was vicariously responsible for the unfortunate death of Javed and it was liable to pay the compensation.
Besides the payment of Rs 2 lakh, the court directed the DSLSA to conduct a fact-finding exercise to evaluate the actual physical or monetary dependence that the siblings and their children may have had on the victim, to determine the loss or injury that they may have suffered.