The victims of custodial deaths in Maharashtra appear to be only from the minority community, observed the Bombay high court.
A division bench of Justices P D Kode and V M Kanade made the comment after they enlightened advocate Yug Chaudhry of their decision to appoint him as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in a case where a 23-year-old resident of Nalasopara (East) inexplicably died in Thane Central Jail.
Observing that custodial deaths are taking place routinely, the HC added,
“It seems to be happening only against certain persons from the minority community.” Chaudhry agreed: “I have done my research and it shows that the cases are mostly of Muslims and Dalits.”
The court questioned why such deaths are taking place in Maharashtra. Referring to the case at hand, it said, “It is not reported as a custodial death but as a natural death.”
The number of such cases is unknown, the court noted.
As indicated by the National Crime Records Bureau, 1,418 custodial deaths took place in India between 1999 and 2013, and around 23% of these (or 333) were reported from Maharashtra. For the majority of the 15 years, the state excels the custodial death charts.