Delhi High Court Orders Expeditious Conclusion Of Magisterial Inquiry Into 'Custodial Death' Of 32-Yr-Old

The Delhi High Court has ordered expeditious conclusion of the magisterial enquiry into the death of a 32 year old man allegedly in the custody of police officials of Subhash Place police station.

Sheikh Sahadat died on July 23 last year. His wife moved a plea seeking registration of FIR against the erring cops as well as to constitute Special Investigation Team for impartial investigation into the FIR.

Justice Jyoti Singh noted that the trial court was not proceeding on the application for registration of FIR under Section 156(3) of Cr.P.C., as the Magisterial inquiry into the death was pending.

“Magisterial inquiry into the death of late Sh. Sheikh Sahadat shall be concluded as expeditiously as possible and not later than 3 months from today,” the court directed.

Senior Advocate Rebecca John appeared for the wife and submitted that there was complete insensitivity on the part of the State in a case where a 32 years old man was found dead allegedly in police custody with “black and blue marks of beatings all over his back and chest and swellings on his hands and legs.”

John said that the alleged beatings were recorded in a video by the family of the deceased on their visit to the mortuary where the dead body was lying.

The court directed the concerned CMM to proceed with the matter expeditiously, including issuing a direction to the Director of FSL to furnish the report without any delay.

“Director, FSL is requested to look into the matter and ensure that the FSL report is sent expeditiously to the concerned Court,” the court said.

It added: “This Court is sanguine and hopes and expects that the concerned Magistrate dealing with the inquiry and the learned CMM in seisin of the application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. will look into the matters with empathy, sensitivity and seriousness, required to be accorded and will act expeditiously.”

Counsel for Petitioner: Ms. Rebecca John, Senior Advocate with Mr. Dushyant Kumar, Ms. Mangla Verma, Ms. Sayara Srikumar, Ms. Joicy, Ms. Anushka Baruah and Mr. Pravir Singh, Advocates

Counsel for Respondents: Mr. Sanjeev Bhandari, ASC for State with Ms. Anvita Bhandari, Mr. Kunal Mittal, Mr. Arjit Sharma and Mr. Vaibhav Vats, Advocates

Title: SETARA BIBI v. STATE OF NCT OF DELHI & ORS.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 494

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