1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH AT NAGPUR CRI. WRIT PETITION NO.261 OF 2011 (ARVIND NATTHUJI ITANKAR..VS.. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THR. SECRETARY, HOME & ANR.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, Court's or Judge's orders appearances, Court's orders of directions and Registrar's orders - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mr. R.M.Daruwala, Advocate(Appointed) for Petitioner. Mr. T.A.Mirza, A.P.P. for Respondents/ State. CORAM : MRS. V.K. TAHILRAMANI AND M.L.TAHALIYANI, JJ. DATE : JUNE 30, 2011. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Additional Public Prosecutor for Respondents/ State. The petitioner is a convict undergoing imprisonment in Nagpur Central Prison for the offence punishable under Section 304-I of the Indian Penal Code. On the night between 11.10.2009 and 12.10.2009 one Mukesh Devidas Chankapure, who was under trial prisoner in the said prison expired. Crime has been registered in relation to the death of Mukesh in which the petitioner and one other accused i.e. Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Natthu are shown as accused. Chargesheet has been filed in the said case. Case of the petitioner is that he is not responsible for causing death of said Mukesh, but in fact some prison officials are responsible for causing his death and the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the said case in order to shield the jail officials. 2 Brief facts are that Mukesh Chankapure was arrested on 09.10.2009 and he was admitted in Nagpur Central Prison on the same day. On the next day he was produced before the Medical Officer of Nagpur Central Prison and he was referred to Psychiatrist of Central Prison, Nagpur. The Psychiatrist had given necessary treatment to Mukesh Chankapure. In the night of 10.10.2009 Mukesh was mentally disturbed and he gave trouble to other prisoners in the barrack by shouting etc. On 11.10.2009 the petitioner again started giving trouble. He started shouting loudly and was running here and there. He was again sent to Prison Hospital for further treatment. Medical treatment was given to the prisoner. It was found that the mental condition of the under trial prisoner was not good and he was suffering from withdrawal symptoms of alcohol. The under trial prisoner refused to eat food and he had to be given ORS. On the night of 11.10.2009 the petitioner was on duty as Night Watchman. The Night Watchman i.e. petitioner offered dinner, to the under-trial prisoner but he refused to take his dinner then liquid ORS was given to him. The said under trial prisoner kicked other prisoners and banged his head on the iron door of the barrack. Because of the violent behaviour of the said under trial prisoner nobody was ready to sleep next to him. The under trial prisoner finally went to sleep at 10.00 p.m. in the barrack No.2 on 11.10.2009. Thereafter prison Constable Shekhar Jadhav and Night Watchman Tilak Mane were watching barrack No.2 of the Prison Hospital where Mukesh was lodged. In the morning at about 5.30 a.m. on 12.10.2011 Jail Constable woke up all the prisoners in Barrack No.2 but the prisoner Mukesh did not respond. Immediately Doctor 3 was called. Dr. Mujawar examined and declared Mukesh dead. Report relating to death has been registered by Dr. Mujawar in Register No.32. Message relating to death of the under trial prisoner was given to Senior Officers of the Jail and it was also communicated to mother of the deceased under trial prisoner Smt. Kantabai Chankapure. Report relating to the death was also submitted to Police Station, Dhantoli and Executive Magistrate, Nagpur. The Executive Magistrate directed to conduct Inquest Panchnama and to take for Post Mortem to the medical authority and to do the video shooting of the post mortem. This was complied with. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Nagpur investigated the matter. On investigation, depositions of witnesses, post mortem report, inquest panchnama, Histopathology report and the other available documents confirmed that the cause of death of under trial prisoner Mukesh Chankapure is due to constriction of neck. Deputy Inspector General of Prisons, Eastern Region, Nagpur also conducted primary investigation / enquiry regarding the death of under trial prisoner on 14.10.2009 and 15.10.2009. As the incident occurred in Central Prison, Nagpur. Dy. Inspector General of Prisons, Eastern Region, Nagpur had immediately visited the prison and under his duty to maintain the administration and control over the prison and he had conducted preliminary enquiry and recorded the statements of prisoners and directed Central Prison, Nagpur to lodge offence against the persons responsible. It is pertinent to note that detailed report relating to the death of under trial Mukesh was submitted to the Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi. 4 The State Human Rights Commission, the Principal Secretary (Jail), Home Department, Government of Maharashtra, Mantralaya, Mumbai, Deputy Secretary, Government of Maharashtra, Home Department, Inspector General of Prisons, Pune, Deputy Inspector General of Prisons, Eastern Region, Nagpur, District Magistrate, Nagpur, Special Executive Magistrate, Nagpur, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Nagpur. The National Human Rights Commission has also enquired into the matter and on going through the record it was of the opinion that no prison official had beaten or ill- treated the deceased under trial prisoner-Mukesh. The State Human Rights Commission, after considering the statements of witnesses, MLC, hospital case papers, copy of F.I.R., Post Mortem Report and other documents, has observed that there are five eyewitnesses to the incident whose statements have also been recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The material on record implicates the petitioner and co-accused Sheikh Sharif and in that light the case should be processed further. During the enquiry, as well as detailed investigation carried out in the death of under trial Mukesh it is revealed that five prisoners viz. Sheikh Afroj, Sk. Mehboob, Ravid Kadekar, Mohd. Ibran, Ramesh Chacherkar and Mahesh Chandrawanshi had seen the actual incident and had given their statement to the prison authority that two prisoners, namely, petitioner and Shaikh Sharif alias Tarya had assaulted the deceased and hence they are responsible for the incident. After finding that these two persons are responsible for the incident and no other prison officials had assaulted or tortured the deceased, the FIR came to be filed 5 against the petitioner and other accused and the case is pending before Judicial Magistrate First Class, Nagpur. As stated earlier, the National Human Rights Commission as well as State Human Rights Commission has thoroughly examined the matter. Magisterial enquiry was conducted as well as enquiry was conducted by the Deputy Inspector General of Prisons. In view of the above facts, the first information report has been rightly filed against the petitioner and co-accused Sheikh Sharif Sk. Natthu. As charge sheet has already been filed in the said case it would be open to the petitioner to defend his case during the trial. In view of above, we find no merit in this petition. The petition is, therefore, dismissed. Fees to be paid to the appointed counsel is quantified at Rs.Two Thousand only. JUDGE JUDGE RR..