NHRC notice to DGP, Surat police commissioner

Surat: Following a complaint it received about the suspicious death of 36-year-old Odiya migrant on May 14 in the hands of Surat police, the National Human Rights Commission issued notices to various government officers in the state seeking action taken report.
The notices served on May 28 to Gujarat State Human Rights Commission at Gandhinagar, state’s director general of police (DGP), city police commissioner and district magistrate, Surat who have been asked to submit a report before August 8.
NHRC has asked magisterial inquiry report under criminal procedure code section 176 in which a magistrate inquires “covering all the aspect leading to death including action, if any, taken on the complaint by the relatives of deceased.”
The notice mentions the complaint that Satyawan alias Satya Swain of Odisha was beaten to death by Gujarat Police for violating social distancing norms during lockdown.
The rights body has also demanded furnishing of crucial documents in the case like investigation and site plan of the scene of occurrence and panchnama, complete medical treatment record of the deceased including inquest, post mortem, video cassette/CD of PM examination, chemical examination and histopathology report of viscera along with forensic science laboratory report on final cause of death.
It also sought action taken report on the magisterial enquiry report, medico legal certificate, final outcome or status of departmental action within police department.
The complaint was lodged by Srikant Padhi, president of Rashtriya Odiya Yuvak Pratishthan (ROYP) and a lawyer in Bombay High Court, who wrote a letter to Justice H L Dattu, chairperson of NHRC on the incident.
“I hope the NHRC inquiry will ensure justice is done. I have requested it to check for CCTV footage of the spot,” Padhi told TOI.
R B Brahmbhatt, city police commissioner, however, maintained that from investigations so far it is clear that the man died due to heart attack and not from being beaten by the police. “We are yet to receive the NHRC notice. Once we get the notice police will submit all the required documents and investigation report as asked,” he added.
Meanwhile, a complaint of culpable homicide not amounting to murder has been lodged against Amroli police station officials in Bhanjanagar police station of Ganjam in Odisha on May 17 in the same incident. The complaint was lodged by Santosh, elder brother of Satyawan.