Bihar pays up relief for police victims

Bihar pays up relief for police victims
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, JULY 7: After a year-long refusal to adhere to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)'s directives, the Bihar government has finally complied with its order by paying compensation of Rs 10 lakh to victims who died due to the insensitivity of the police department, and has initiated action against those responsible for the incident.

In the first incident, a DSP, Satya Pal, had died in an encounter with a gang of criminals ``due to delay in the arrival of police reinforcements from the district headquarters'', NHRC sources said.

According to the complaint received by the NHRC regarding the matter, the commission said: ``It alleged that the delay was politically motivated and even after the incident no effort was made to arrest the five accused persons.''

``The report called for by the commission confirmed that the death of Pal had occurred due to lack of planning and urgency in collecting police force for help,'' the commission said. The superintendent of police failed to realise the gravity of the situation and instead of rushing to the scene of encounter himself, he left the matter to a junior who reached the place with just a few persons and more than four hours after the message was received, the commission said.

``The Commission also felt that the efforts to apprehend the assailants were half-hearted and there was deliberate investigative inaction which could be due to their political affiliation,'' it said.

The Commission directed the state government to pay Rs 5 lakh to Pal's widow and take stern action against those who were responsible for the incident.

The second case pertains to the ``brutal'' killing of one Santosh Kumar Singh by the officer in-charge of the Biharigunj police station in Purnea district of Bihar. According to the complaint, a police posse headed by the sub-inspector raided the village of Singh, who protested the abusive language being used by the si for which the policeman fired at Singh. The S-I chased him into his house and shot at him again. The police then took Singh in their jeep before taking him to the police station, the complaint said, adding Singh died of injuries the next day in the police station. The police, also refused to hand over the body to the family members, it said. After verifying the complaint, the NHRC observed: ``There was substantial evidence to prove that the S-I killed Singh.''

The commission recommended that the government place the S-I under suspension and pay Singh's widow interim relief of Rs 5 lakh.