Telangana HC orders judicial probe into Dalit woman’s custodial death
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday ordered a judicial probe into the custodial death of a Dalit woman, Mariamma.
A two-judge panel comprising Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice T Vinod Kumar was dealing with a plea filed by People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) seeking a judicial probe into the death and Rs 5 crore as compensation from the police officers who allegedly tortured her to death.
In connection with a theft case, deceased Mariyamma and her son were allegedly whisked away by policemen in plain clothes from their home in Komatlagudem in the Madhira constituency. They were allegedly beaten up brutally, resulting in Mariamma’s death. According to the petitioner, the police tortured the victim in their custody from June 15 to June 18.
The Advocate General told the court that some police officers had already been suspended. The panel then directed the Registrar General to inform the Judicial Magistrate, Altair, to conduct a judicial inquiry immediately. It directed the judge to ensure that the dead body of the deceased is de-centred and order re-postmortem if required. Seeking the report in a sealed cover, the panel adjourned the case to June 28.
Gold smuggling case
Justice K Lakshman of the Telangana High court refused to set aside an order of the Special Judge for Economic Offences, Hyderabad, refusing to give the custody of the passport to petitioner Zia Unissa Nasreen. The allegation against the petitioner is that she was involved in the smuggling of gold weighing 11.100 kg worth Rs 3.63 crore into India from Dubai by concealing the yellow metal on her body.
Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials seized the gold, arrested the petitioner and produced her before the court below in May 2019. She was granted bail on the conditions that she executes a personal bond for Rs 5.00 lakh with two sureties for the like sum to the satisfaction of the court.
In her present petition, she moved the Special Judge seeking interim custody of her passport for six months. The court below vide order dated February 18 dismissed the said application on the ground that the petitioner had not approached it with clean hands and suppressed the material facts. She also contended that she must go to Dubai for her eye treatment.
She is a partner in ‘Jewel Coast’, which designs and manufactures jewellery. She needs to travel Dubai to conduct business, so as to show the designs to prospective customers. Therefore, the petitioner is in need of the said passport. The DRI opposed the application contending that she is a habitual offender and that even in the past, she had smuggled 34 kg of gold in a similar fashion. it said she is filing one petition or other with different grounds. In the earlier petition, she sought custody of the passport on the ground that she has to take her daughter to the UK to join the LLB course.
Justice Lakshman pointed out that the court had not denied the relief on merits but had pointed out that she had filed a petition under the wrong provisions of law and the order was in accordance with law and therefore did not warrant interference.
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