Cuttack January 30 : Hearing a petition on alleged custodial death involving personnel of Dhenkanal town police station that was filed 15 years back, the Orissa High Court has directed the State government to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation to the father of the victim.
The victim Manoj Kumar Mohapatra was picked up by police on the night of June 6, 2005. The next morning at around 10.30 am, he was taken to Sadar hospital and then shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack but succumbed mid-way.
On November 7, the same year, victim’s father Purna Chandra Mohapatra had filed a petition seeking compensation alleging that his son died after being brutally tortured in custody by Dhenkanal Town police.
While disposing of the petition on Wednesday, the Court held the police liable for the avoidable death of Manoj while in their custody, on account of their negligence”.
The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Biswajit Mohanty directed that a sum of Rs 5, 00,000 be paid by the State to the petitioner as compensation for the death of his son while in police custody. The compensation amount if any already paid shall be adjusted against the aforesaid sum and the balance be paid to the petitioner not later than March 8, 2021.