Mumbai, July 28 (IANS) The Maharashtra government on Tuesday issued a comprehensive Government Resolution (GR) establishing unified, state-wide guidelines for investigating custodial deaths and implementing preventive measures.
The directive consolidates Supreme Court rulings, mandates from the National and State Human Rights Commissions (NHRC/SHRC), and procedures aligned with India’s criminal law codes, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA).
The resolution adopts the NHRC’s definition of custodial death, covering fatalities that occur while an individual is in either “formal custody” or “constructive custody” (physical detention for interrogation without formal arrest). For deaths occurring in judicial custody, the responsibility to inform the NHRC lies with prison authorities rather than the local police.
To ensure impartial investigations, the Maharashtra government has designated dedicated probe agencies depending on jurisdiction. All custodial death investigations will be conducted by the Crime Branch, Mumbai. In the rest of Maharashtra, investigations will be handled exclusively by the State Crime Investigation Department (CID).
The GR has listed immediate protocols following custodial deaths. Police station in-charges must immediately secure and isolate the Scene of Occurrence (SoO) to prevent tampering with evidence. The incident must be registered as an Accidental Death (A.D.) on the CCTNS portal without delay, and all relevant CCTV footage must be secured.
Details must be reported within 24 hours to the NHRC, SHRC, Additional Director General of Police (Protection of Civil Rights), as well as district and police control rooms. Mandatory magisterial inquiries under Section 196(2) of the BNSS 2023 must be formally initiated. Further, an Executive Magistrate must conduct an inquest under Section 194(4) of the BNSS 2023 with multi-angle video recording.
Family members must be included during the inquest, and a female pancha is required if the deceased is a woman. The directive mandates strict scientific and forensic rigour during post-mortem examinations. Autopsies must be performed at designated government medical institutions such as Grant Medical College & JJ Hospital in Mumbai, BJ Medical College in Pune, GMC Miraj, GMC Nagpur, and GMC Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Post-mortems must be conducted by a panel of at least three expert medical officers, including a female doctor if the deceased is female.
Audio-video recording of the entire dissection and organ examination is mandatory. Forensic teams must inspect the scene, record evidence via the eSakshya system, and perform crime scene reconstructions. Digital evidence must be seized in compliance with Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. If police involvement or torture is suspected, Call Detail Records (CDR), Subscriber Detail Records (SDR), and tower location dump data of involved officers will be analysed.
In alignment with the Supreme Court’s directives in Paramvir Singh Saini v. Baljit Singh & Ors., the resolution mandates strict preventive measures across all police stations. CCTV cameras with night vision and clear audio recording must cover all entries, exits, main corridors, interrogation rooms, lockups (inside and outside), restrooms, and station premises. Hard drives and servers must maintain an 18-month backup of all footage. State-Level Oversight Committees (SLOC) and District-Level Oversight Committees (DLOC) will monitor implementation and conduct surprise inspections.
Live CCTV display monitors must be operational in Station House Officer (SHO) rooms, Inspector rooms, and Wireless rooms for constant surveillance. Under Section 53 of BNSS 2023, every suspect must undergo a medical exam before formal arrest, explicitly documenting any existing injuries to prevent false allegations of police assault.
Suspects beaten by the public must be admitted to a hospital immediately for medical care rather than being placed directly into police cells. Detainees in police remand must undergo medical check-ups every 48 hours.
The Government Resolution reaffirms financial assistance policies for legal heirs of the deceased. The government will provide Rs 1 lakh to legal heirs if a CID investigation concludes that the death occurred due to police negligence. Further, Rs 1.5 lakh will be given to legal heirs if a formal criminal case is registered against the involved police officers or staff.
–IANS
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