National Human Rights Commission takes prisons department to task

HYDERABAD: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken the prisons department to task over the death of a female remand prisoner. Not only did it direct that monetary relief of Rs 3 lakh be paid to the family of the prisoner Nannolu Chandrakala alias Padmasalari Chandrakala, NHRC also commented against the prisons department.

"The jail authorities did not give proper information to the blood relatives at the right time about her admission in hospital or her death. This reflects negligence and suspicious action on the part of the jail authorities," the commission commented.

The remand prisoner Nannolu Chandrakala had died at Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad where she had been admitted to for an ailment. The commission which perused the post-mortem report also said that it 'revealed abraded contusions of 9 cm*0.5 cm over the upper part, front and centre of the chest'. The revenue divisional officer, Mahbubnagar, who conducted the magisterial enquiry, also observed that the deceased has received wound behind head, arms and elbow, which reflects that she was manhandled, the commission pointed out.

Chandrakala died on April 6, 2011 and subsequently, the NHRC issued notices to the chief secretary of the state asking why monetary relief should not be paid to her kin. The reply of the director general of prisons department was sent through the government, which did not satisfy the NHRC.

In several other cases of deaths of remand prisoners, the NHRC had reacted and directed that compensation be paid up to Rs 1.5 lakh also. This is probably for the first time that a huge amount of Rs 3 lakh was directed to be paid to the kin of Chandrakala because of the suspicious nature of her death.

"The commission cannot overlook the observations made by the RDO who conducted the magisterial enquiry," the commission said.

When TOI asked director general of prisons T P Das what action would be taken in the wake of the stinging comments made by the NHRC, he said he would once again call for the details and take appropriate action if necessary. In so far as the reported wounds on the body of Chandrakala were concerned, he said from the reports that he had there was also one version that they could have resulted from the post-mortem.

(2012-08-05/timesofindia)