Maha govt sets up committee to curb custodial deaths

The Maharashtra government has set up a seven-member committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Sudhir Shrivastava to recommend ways to stop the custodial deaths, a state minister said today.
The formation of the panel comes in the wake of the the custodial death of Aniket Kothale in Sangli city earlier this month.
Minister of State for Home (Rural) Deepak Kesarkar informed that the committee will also recommend measures so that people get proper treatment at police stations.
"The panel will submit its report to the government within 15 days. Once the committee submits the report on these two issues, the government will issue circulars aimed at putting in place a system whereby incidents of custodial deaths are brought to zero in a progressive state like Maharashtra," he said.

The minister claimed that the number of custodial deaths in Maharashtra has now come down from 36 to 15-16.
Kesarkar said that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been advocating the need for use of modern crime detection techniques like narco tests, brain mapping to detect crime.

"The government plans to provide these latest crime detection techniques at its seven forensic science laboratories (FSL) in the state, whereby delays can be reduced," he said.
Replying to a query over the custodial death in Sangli, he said the stress levels on the police has been on the rise, which in turn affects their health.

The committee will also take into account the government circulars issued in the past as well as the judgments of the high court and Supreme Court, he said.
Referring to the recent police firing on farmers in Ahmednagar district, he said that in such cases magisterial probe is ordered and responsibility is identified and fixed.
He said in Ahmednagar, two police personnel who got seriously injured.
On the treatment meted out by the police personnel to people at police stations, Kesarkar said a survey has revealed that 57 per cent of people (victims) do not approach the police to report the crime out of fear that the police might not treat them well.