Govind Sharma
JAMMU, Feb 7: The custodial death of a rape accused today triggered strong protests by deceased’s family members, relatives and neighbours, who blocked Jammu-Gharota road in front of police station Janipur, demanding inquiry into the mysterious death.
According to the reports, a 45-year-old man namely Subhash Chander son of Amar Nath, resident of Shivlak Puram, Janipur was arrested last week on the charges of rape of a minor girl and he died early this morning in custody of police station Janipur.
Alleging that Subhash Chander died due to physical torture in police custody, his family members, relatives and neighbours took to streets in Janipur and blocked the road by burning tyres as they demanded compensation for the family and an inquiry into the mysterious death.
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However, SSP Jammu, Vivek Gupta said, “Subash Chander alias ‘Kaka’, a resident of Shivalik Puram (Janipur), was arrested on February 2 allegedly on charges of trespassing and rape of a minor girl. The accused complained of uneasiness today around 3 am in the lockup at Janipur police station and was subsequently taken to Government Medical College and Hospital (Jammu), where doctors declared him as brought dead”.
The protest which began early in the morning, continued till 6 PM. Due to blockade of the road, vehicular traffic on the road remained disrupted for whole day and could be restored late in the evening when police resorted to lathi charge on the protesting people.
The family members alleged that Subhash was mercilessly beaten into police custody due to which he died. They further blamed the police for not informing them about his sickness if any and trying to conduct the postmortem of the body without informing them.
Meanwhile, Government has ordered a magisterial probe into the incident on the demand of deceased’s relatives. “DC Jammu, Kumar Rajeev Ranjan has ordered a magisterial probe into the death of the accused and asked the inquiry officer to submit his report within four weeks”, a senior officer of district administration said.
“It is a matter of concern that the death has occurred during the police custody and it becomes mandatory for this office to ascertain the cause of death of the accused person,” the order issued by Ranjan said.
Later, in the evening a medical board of four doctors conducted postmortem of the body of the deceased and handed over the same to his family for last rites.
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