Reopen 2021 custodial death case against eight policemen: UP court

A court here has ordered reopening of a custodial death case of a 36-year-old man in 2021 in which eight policemen are facing murder charges, observing that the probe appears "incomplete" and "flawed".

Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Sudha Yadav dismissed the narrative of the police that the deceased Ziauddin died of a heart attack, pointing out to the deep injury marks found on the body of the deceased.

"The deceased's age is mentioned as 36 years in the case, and there is no evidence of any serious illness in the deceased's past, nor is there any mention of alcohol or drug use by the deceased that could have led to his death. The investigation conducted by the police on these points appears to be incomplete and flawed," the court said in its order on October 4.

A murder case was filed against eight policemen from the Sammanpur police station on March 26, 2021 regarding the death of Ziauddin who was in police custody at Sammanpu police station.

The custodial death took place on March 24, 2021 in Ambedkar Nagar district.

Police had detained Ziauddin at the Sammanpur police station in connection with a robbery case.

The case of murder and abduction was filed against all eight police men after the complaint filed by deceased's brother Shahabuddin.

Shahabuddin had alleged that his brother was continuously beaten at the police station and the next day, when his condition deteriorated, the police admitted him to the district hospital, where he passed away shortly after.

Though officials continued to deny any torture in custody, the deep injury marks found on Ziauddin's body in the postmortem report have created suspicion against the eight police men, the CJM said in her order.

On October 2, 2022, the police investigation officer Birendra Bahadur Singh exonerated all the cops accused of custodial death, citing heart attack as the cause of death.

After this Shahabuddin filed a petition in the court against the police final report.

The postmortem report, which revealed deep injury marks on Ziauddin's body, became significant and went against the policemen.

The CJM said in her order that "The protest petition submitted by the plaintiff is accepted, and the final report presented by the investigator in the case is accordingly dismissed".

The Superintendent of Police, Ambedkar Nagar, is directed to appoint an officer at the deputy superintendent of police level to ensure a fair and impartial further investigation under their supervision, in light of the objection raised by the plaintiff and the above observations, it said.

Ambedkar Nagar Police Superintendent Kaustubh said the Circle Officer, City, Akbarpur, Devendra Maurya has been appointed as the investigation officer.

All the eight police personnel accused of custodial death are presently serving in the police force.