HC orders ₹2L relief to kin of convict who killed self

Cuttack: Orissa high court has directed the state govt to pay an interim compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the daughter of a convict who allegedly died by suicide at Keonjhar jail 14 years back. The single-judge bench of Justice S K Panigrahi ordered the payment of interim compensation in the case of Nandu Munda whose daughter Babita filed the petition alleging that severe and unbearable mistreatment led his father to take his own life.Nandu was serving imprisonment for a criminal offence. Babita alleged that jail authorities were solely responsible for abetting his suicide. Justice Panigrahi said, “It is the duty of the jail authorities to ensure safety and security of the inmates of the jail. Only when there is negligence on their part, such an incident could take place.”
“Therefore, this court comes to the conclusion that it is a case of custodial death and the authorities are responsible for the same. The authorities being the employees of the state of Odisha, the state is vicariously liable for the death of the aforesaid deceased,” Justice Panigrahi ruled in his judgment released on Sept 20. Justice Panigrahi also observed that a full compensation cannot be granted without the completion of investigation of the death and the departmental inquiry, among others. According to case records, Nandu was found hanging from the skylight in a toilet on Sept 1, 2010.