Custodial death case: Bihar govt pays Rs 3 lakh solatium

Bihar government has paid Rs three lakh to the family of a man who died due to torture in police custody following the recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The solatium was paid to the family of Madan Yadav who died due to torture in custody at Barun Police Station in Aurangabad district on June 7 in 2012, a day after he was arrested for alleged links with Naxals.
"The Special Secretary, Home Department, government of Bihar, in his personal appearance before the commission, also informed that the next of kin of deceased Yadav had also withdrawn the amount of relief from his bank account," an NHRC statement said.

Also, after NHRC's intervention a case was registered against the delinquent police personnel under section 302 IPC at Police Station Barun. The SHO and five constables were suspended, it said.
The victim, Yadav, a native of district Palamu in Jharkhand, was alleged to be a 'sub-zonal commander' of banned CPI (Maoist) and was arrested on June 6 in 2012. He was brought to Barun for interrogation, the statement said.
"During the course of investigations, the commission found several loopholes in police theory behind the death of the accused.

"Based on the material of record placed before the commission after a series of notices, it held that there was overwhelming evidence against the conduct of the police which could not satisfactorily explain the reason behind the injuries to the deceased.

"This did not rule out the possibility of police torture under adverse environmental temperature amounting to violation of human rights of the victim," it said.
Reports also revealed that there were contradictions and discrepancies in the police statements about the place of Yadav's arrest, lack of medical examination after his arrest, the reason behind injuries on his body and his stomach being without food and water, etc.