NHRC seeks report from Bengal govt on convict's death in judicial custody

Kolkata: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought a report from the West Bengal government regarding the unnatural death of a convict in judicial custody in a correctional home in the state.

West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) too has sought a report from the state government on this count.

Already the court of the chief judicial magistrate has ordered a judicial probe behind that unnatural death.

The victim, Hatem Ali Mondal (83), died at the Burdwan District Correctional Home in East Burdwan district of West Bengal on Monday.

As per records, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a district court at Kalna in East Burdwan district, then undivided Burdwan district in the year 2005 during the previous Left Front regime in West Bengal.

As per complaints filed, the convict was taken to the Burdwan Medical College & Hospital from the correctional home premises after he complained of physical uneasiness on late Sunday night. However, the accusation against the correctional home authorities is that instead of getting him admitted at the hospital, the convict was provided with some preliminary medications at the outdoor department of the hospital and was taken back to the correctional home after a few hours.

On Monday morning as his conditions deteriorated, he was again brought to the Burdwan Medical College & Hospital, where he was declared dead. The post-mortem report of the deceased is yet to come following which the exact reason of his death could be known.