Gujarat tops in custodial deaths across India

VADODARA: Cops in the state may have a reason to worry — Gujarat has been placed among the top three states in the country for custodial deaths over the past few years. On Thursday, yet another custodial death was reported from Godhra taluka in Panchmahal district.

Qasim Hayat, who was arrested in beef selling racket, committed suicide by hanging himself with a piece of cloth in Godhra police station.
Meanwhile, Crime in India in 2020, a report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has revealed that number of custodial deaths last year in Gujarat were the highest. Fifteen persons, who were in police custody without remand, died in different districts of the state in 2020.
Of these, six were suicide cases by accused and six were deaths due to illnesses. According to the report, magisterial inquiry has been ordered into 12 of these custodial death cases while judicial inquiry has been ordered in one case. Cases have been registered only in two of the incidents but no charge-sheet has been filed.
In 2019 too, the state was ranked second in custodial deaths across the country. Three accused had committed suicide while five died of illnesses and one from injuries sustained due to the physical assault while in custody, as per the NCRB report.
In the custodial death case of Sheikh Babu Nisar, who disappeared from Fatehgunj police custody in Vadodara in December 2019, the CID (crime) is yet to trace his body. Suspected to be a thief, Sheikh was picked up by the cops from Sayajigunj and taken to Fatehgunj police station for questioning. He was never seen again. Six cops were arrested for the custodial death of Sheikh in 2020.
While 14 cops were arrested in connection with the custodial death in 2019, not a single cop has been arrested in any of the custodial deaths that happened in 2020. In 2018, Gujarat topped the list of custodial deaths in the country with 14 persons dying in police custody while the number was 10 in 2017. Suicide and illnesses were among the top causes for the custodial deaths in the state in last three years.