JUDGMENT

A.K. PATNAIK, J.

1. These are three appeals by way of special leave under Article 136 of the Constitution against the common judgment dated 22.03.2007 of the High Court of Bombay by which a Sub-Inspector of Police and two Police Constables, have been held guilty for having caused the custodial death of Arun (hereinafter referred to as the deceased).

Facts of the case:

2. The facts very briefly are that a minor girl named Usha fell in love with Chandrakant and both Usha and Chandrakant eloped from Kolhapur where they were residing to Umbrat near Kankavali in Konkan area in Maharashtra. Ushas father Madhukar lodged a complaint against Chandrakant and three others including the deceased for kidnapping Usha, and Subhash, a Sub-Inspector of Police, was entrusted with the investigation into the complaint of Madhukar. On 16.12.1985 between 12.00 and 12.30 in the midnight, Subhash with the help of two constables, Sunil Jadhav and Ananda Bhonsale, arrested the deceased, who was the elder brother of Chandrakant, on the suspicion that he had helped Chandrakant to elope from Kankavali with Usha and lodged the deceased in the lock-up of Shahupuri Police Station at Kolhapur. On the morning