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Kerala govt orders judicial probe into custodial death

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala told the Assembly that the government had decided to order the high level probe and provide financial assistance to the family of the victim.

Trivandrum - The Kerala government has ordered a judicial inquiry into the death of a 40-year-old man after he was taken into custody by the police.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala told the Assembly that the government had decided to order the high level probe and provide financial assistance to the family of the victim.
Parakkal Siby, who was taken into custody on June 29 from Marangattupally near Pala in Kottayam district following a fight with a neighbour, had died at the Kottayam Medical College Hospital due to head injury.
The relatives of the victim had alleged that the death was the result of the brutal custodial torture by the police. The government announced the judicial probe after the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) disrupted the proceedings in the assembly.
The opposition members trooped into the well of the house and squatted there demanding registration of murder cases against the police officials involved in the incident. Speaker N Sakthan adjourned the house for the day following the noisy scenes.
CPM legislator K Radhakrishnan, a former Speaker, who sought permission to move an adjournment motion on the issue, said many people had lost their lives in police custody since the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government came to power.
Admitting that there had been lapses on the part of police in the case, the home minister said when the man had been taken into custody he should have been immediately taken for medical examination as per the guidelines of the National Human Rights Commission.
He said that the police officials at Marangattupally police station had not complied with these guidelines and asserted that the government will not protect the guilty and would bring those behind the heinous incident to book. The government has already suspended the sub-inspector of the station in connection with the incident.
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