By Nirmala Carvalho

Mumbai: The Telangana High Court has ordered a judicial inquiry in the case of a Catholic Dalit woman dying in police custody.

The court order came on a complaint from the People’s Union for Civil Liberties.

Meanwhile an inspector and two officers involved in the case have been suspended.

On June 15, the police stopped Mariyamma along with her son to question them about a theft of 200,000 rupees reported by the parish priest of their village of Komatlagudem in Addagudur district.

According to the lawyer representing the woman and her son, both were tortured for three days. The young man said he was beaten with a bamboo cane and a strap and has wounds on his body to prove it. His mother was also beaten.

Police defend themselves by saying the woman was ill on the night of June 17 and was taken to the hospital where she died the next day.

The court instructed the magistrate of the town of Alair to investigate, and authorized, if necessary, a second post-mortem on the woman’s body.

The court also requested CCTV footage from the police station, but the lawyer representing the Telangana government said that the station where the incident took place was not equipped with such a device, this despite an Indian Supreme Court order requiring it.

Bishop of Sarat Chandra Nayak of Berhampur, who heads the Office for Scheduled Caste and Backward Classes of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), called for an inquiry into Mariyamma’s death.

For the prelate, death in police custody is a serious matter.

“If there is an accusation of theft, the police must carry out a proper investigation, and the court will decide guilt or innocence, but life has to be protected. Police are supposed to take care of law and order,” he noted.

While extending his “condolences to the bereaved family,” Bishop Nayak added that “there should be a thorough investigation into Mariyamma’s death and compensation should be given. The government must book those responsible for the woman’s death under the SC/ST Atrocities Act.”

Source: asianews.it