Telangana HC seeks CCTV footage in Narsampet custodial death case

The Telangana High Court directed the State to produce CCTV footage in connection with the alleged custodial death of undertrial prisoner Pendyala Sucharitha at Narsampet Women’s Prison, following a petition by her brother seeking a fair investigation.

Hyderabad: Justice T. Madhavi Devi of the Telangana High Court on Monday directed the State to produce the CCTV footage in connection with the alleged custodial death of a 30-year-old undertrial woman.

The direction came in a writ petition filed by the brother of Pendyala Sucharitha seeking a fair and effective investigation into her alleged custodial death while lodged in the Special Prison for Women at Narsampet. 

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Appearing for the petitioner, Senior Advocate V. Raghunath contended that the deceased was subjected to custodial torture and inhuman treatment by prison officials despite repeatedly complaining of ill health. It was submitted that she was assaulted inside the prison, which ultimately led to her death. Counsel also drew the Court’s attention to the injury noted on the scalp of the deceased in the post-mortem report. 

The Government Pleader for Home submitted that a charge memo had already been issued to the officials concerned, departmental proceedings were pending and a magisterial enquiry into the incident was also underway. In response, Senior Advocate Raghunath argued that departmental and magisterial enquiries could not substitute a fair criminal investigation into the complaint lodged by the deceased’s brother. 

Taking note of the rival submissions, Justice T. Madhavi Devi directed the State, prison authorities and the police to file their counter-affidavits and also produce the CCTV footage of the prison by the next date of hearing. The matter was adjourned by four weeks.