Guwahati: There have been 38 cases of fatalities in custody in Meghalaya since 2012.
This was informed by the Meghalaya government to the high court.
In response, a Meghalaya high court panel led by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice HS Thangkhiew ordered an investigation should be conducted to determine if deaths in custody were unnatural.
The Meghalaya high court has set a tentative compensation figure of Rs 10 lakh for the family of a detainee who died strangely.
It added that if the dead was under the age of 40, the compensation amount should be enhanced.
In addition to the 38 deaths reported by the state, the Meghalaya high court has ordered the state government to place advertisements in newspapers seeking information about custodial deaths.
“Any anyone with confirmed information on any other custodial death in the state, apart from the 38 specified by the state, may write to the Court with supporting papers or may even appear before this bench with full particulars in support,” the Meghalaya high court stated.
The next hearing in this case has been set on June 29.