Goemkarponn desk
New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai released internal data and said the highest number of custodial deaths were reported in Gujarat, followed by Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Bihar respectively. As per the report provided by the home ministry, Gujarat reported 80 official custodial deaths, while Maharashtra recorded 76 such incidents.
Custodial deaths
In the report, the data on custodial deaths reported between April 1, 2017, and March 31, 2022, in all states and Union Territories across India was provided. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed the Rajya Sabha that a total of 146 cases of death in police custody were reported during 2017-2018, 136 in 2018-2019, 112 in 2019-2021, 100 in 2020-2021 and 175 in 2021-2022.
Rai said that among the nine Union Territories, the highest number of custodial deaths were reported from Delhi at 29, followed by Jammu and Kashmir at 4 in the last five years.
“In Maharashtra, 19 deaths in police custody were reported in 2017-18, 11 in 2018-19, three deaths in 2019-2020, 13 in 2020-21 and 30 deaths in 2021-22. In Uttar Pradesh, 10 deaths were reported in 2017-18, 12 deaths in 2018-19, three deaths in 2019-2020, eight deaths in 2020-21 and eight deaths in 2021-22,” Rai said in Rajya Sabha.
“In Tamil Nadu, 11 deaths were reported in 2017-18, 11 in 2018-19, 12 deaths in 2019-2020, two deaths in 2020-21 and four deaths in 2021-22. In Bihar, seven deaths in police custody were reported in 2017-18, five each in 2018-19 and 2019-2020, three deaths in 2020-21 and 18 deaths in 2021-22,” he added citing the data
Monetary relief
The minister while quoting the data from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said that the monetary relief was approved and given in 201 cases about the incidents of deaths in police custody. The compensation amounted to Rs 5,80,74,998, and disciplinary action in one case.
THESE states reported zero custodial deaths from 2017-2020
Rai further informed that states like Sikkim and Goa reported no incident of custodial deaths from 2017 to 2020, but recorded one incident of custodial death each in 2021-2022.
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