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2009 Supreme(SC) 1340
2009(5) Supreme 790
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Dalveer Bhandari and Dr. Mukundakam Sharma, JJ.
Mohammad Yasin — Appellant
versus
State (NCT of Delhi) & Others — Respondents
Criminal Appeal No. 1228 of 2002
Decided on : 30-07-2009
For the Appellant :Vipin Gogia, Ms. Jaspreet Gogia, Advocates.
For the Respondents:P.P. Malhotra, ASG, Ms. Sadhna Sandhu, Ms. Anil Katiyar, Advocates.
IMPORTANT POINT
Expression of life or personal liberty in Article 21 includes right to live with human dignity and it includes within itself a guarantee against torture and assault by the States or by its functionaries.
Headnote:Custodial Death – Writ petition filed by appellant before High Court seeking directions to handover the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation into the death of his elder brother who died in police custody of the police station Okhla Industrial Area, New Delhi – High Court in the impugned order after perusing the report of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and the report of the Board of Doctors who conducted postmortem examination of the deceased came to the conclusion that the death of the appellant’s brother was caused due to cardiac arrhythmias and the petition was disposed of – Appeal – Instantly deceased was arrested at 1.30 pm on 4.8.1999 and he was taken to the ESI hospital at 3.10 pm on the same day where he was declared brought dead – The distance between the place from where the accused was arrested and the ESI Hospital was about 96 kms – From the point of arrest till the ESI hospital, the deceased was travelling in the car all the time and on complaint of uneasiness he was taken to the ESI hospital – Board of three Doctors gave clear and categorical finding that the cause of death was due to ventricular arrhythmias consequent to old compromised heart in a person having hypertrophied heart (460 gms) myocardial fibrosis and atherosclerosis of coronaries – A person having heart weight of 460 gms. Myocardial fibrosis and coronary atherosclerosis has high risk of sudden death with or without provocation- In view of the report of the Board of Doctors and Sub-Divisional Magistrate inquiry, held difficult to reach at any other conclusion except that deceased had died because of his serious heart disease – In the facts and circumstances of the case, no interference was called for – Appeal dismissed. (Paras 19 to 25)
Facts of the Case :
1. A Writ petition was filed by appellant before High Court herein in the instant case seeking directions to handover the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation into the death of his elder brother who died in police custody of the police station Okhla Industrial Area, New Delhi. High Court in the impugned order after perusing the report of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and the report of the Board of Doctors who conducted postmortem examination of the deceased and came to the conclusion that the death of the appellant’s brother was caused due to cardiac arrhythmias and the petition was disposed of.
2. Present appeal has been filed against said order of High Court.
Findings of the Court :
Instantly deceased was arrested at 1.30 pm on 4.8.1999 and he was taken to the ESI hospital at 3.10 pm on the same day where he was declared brought dead. The distance between the place from where the accused was arrested and the ESI Hospital was about 96 kms. From the point of arrest till the ESI hospital, the deceased was travelling in the car all the time and on complaint of uneasiness he was taken to the ESI hospital. In view of the report of the Board of Doctors and Sub-Divisional Magistrate inquiry, it was held difficult to reach at any other conclusion except that deceased had died because of his serious heart disease. In the facts and circumstances of the case, no interference was called for. Appeal was dismissed.
Result : Appeal dismissed.
JUDGMENT
Dalveer Bhandari, J.—
1. This appeal is directed against the judgment of the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court passed in Criminal Writ Petition No.917 of 1999 on 28.9.2001.
2. The appellant Mohd. Yasin had filed a writ petition before the Delhi High Court seeking directions to handover the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation into the death of his elder brother Yunus alias Anees who died on 4.8.1999 in police custody of the police station Okhla Industrial Area, New Delhi. The appellant further prayed for a direction to the station house officer of the police station Okhla Industrial Area to register a case under section 302 IPC against the delinquent officer(s).
3. The High Court in the impugned order after perusing the report of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and the report of the Board of Doctors who conducted postmortem examination of the deceased and came to the conclusion that the death of the appellant’s brother was caused due to cardiac arrhythmias and the petition was disposed of.
4. The appellant being aggrieved by the impugned judgment of the High Court has preferred this appeal.
5. Brief facts which are necessary to dispose of this appeal are recapitulated as under:
In the intervening night at about 1.00 am on 4/5.8.1999, the appellant received a telephonic call from one Afroz who is a friend of the deceased Yunus, the elder brother of the appellant, and was told that on 4.8.1999 the police took Yunus to the police station Okhla Industrial Area and that he also accompanied Yunus to the police station. He also told that Yunus was hospitalized at the ESI Hospital. The appellant who was at Mumbai immediately came to Delhi and learnt that his brother Yunus had died while he was in police custody.
6. It is also submitted that respondent no.5 Sub-Inspector of Police Mukesh Walia had approached Afroz, a friend of Yunus and threatened to implicate him in a false case under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 unless he helped the police in nabbing Yunus. Under the said threat and coercion, Afroz went to the village of Yunus and thereafter the police arrested Yunus. It is also incorporated in the appeal that the inquiry was also conducted by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Kalkaji, South District, New Delhi under section 176 Cr.P.C. The statements of the police officials who went to arrest Yunus were recorded by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate on 5.8.1999.
7. It is further stated in the appeal that Yunus was in good health and he died in the police custody indicating that he did not die of natural death. The postmortem examination was conducted on the body of the deceased Yunus at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on 6.8.1999 and thereafter his dead body was handed over to the appellant in the presence of other relatives of the appellant. At that time, the appellant noticed injuries on the face and head of the deceased. It is stated that the clothes of the deceased Yunus were sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), New Delhi. In the report of the CFSL, blood of group A+ was detected on the shirt of the deceased Yunus. It is pertinent to mention that the doctors opined that the cause of death of Yunus was due to ventricular arrhythmias consequent to old compromised heart in a person having hypertrophied heart (460 gms.) myocardial fibrosis; atherosclerosis of coronaries and that a person having heart weight of 460 gms. myocardial fibrosis and coronary atherosclerosis has high risk of sudden death with or without provocation.
8. In the instant case, the police apprehended Yunus at 1.30 pm on 4.8.1999 and he was taken to the ESI Hospital at 3.10 pm on the same day where he was declared brought dead.
9. The appellant relied on the directions given by this court in D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal1 (1997) 1 SCC 416 and submitted that the respondents had violated these directions. In Basu’s case, the court observed that “the custodial death is perhaps
