Gauhati High Court Issues Notice To State On Plea Alleging Custodial Death Of Prime Accused In 14-Yr-Old Girl's Gang Rape

The Gauhati High Court on Monday issued notice to the Assam Government and Police authorities in a plea on the custodial death of the prime accused in the gang rape of a fourteen-year-old girl in Nagaon, who allegedly drowned in a pond when he tried to flee from police custody.

The division bench of Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak and Justice Soumitra Saikia issued the said notice while hearing a writ petition filed by the father of the deceased accused, seeking compensation for his custodial death and action against the police officials involved.

The Counsel appearing for the petitioner prayed for striking off the names of the two respondents namely, the Gaonbura of Barbhethi Gaon Panchayat Dhing Chariali and the President of Village Defence Protection Force Barbhethi Gaon Dhing Chariali respectively, as the petitioner is not claiming any relief from them.

The Court allowed the same and struck off the names of the above-mentioned respondents from the cause title of the petition.

According to reports, the police claimed that the deceased accused, Taffazul Islam, in handcuffs, drowned while trying to escape from their custody at the scene of the alleged gang rape of the 14-year-old girl at Dhing in central Assam's Nagaon district at 3.30 a.m. on August 23.

It was also reported that the petitioner alleged that the postmortem of Islam's body was done without the family being informed and that it was not videographed.

Case Title: Abdul Awal v. The State of Assam & 7 Ors.

Case No.: WP(C)/4662/2024

Click Here To Read/Download Order