OHRC asks Government to give Rs 1 lakh to man ‘illegally detained’ by cops

In what could be a jolt to the Commissionerate Police, the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has directed the Odisha Government to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to a man who was allegedly illegally detained and subjected to torture in police custody.

The victim Biswanath Pradhan had been detained before being arrested in connection with a firing incident in Mancheswar area of the City. His wife had moved the commission in this regard. In its interim order, the OHRC has asked the Home Department to pay the amount within four weeks.

According to the case, police had allegedly taken Biswanath into custody on April 15 but he was produced before the court on April 20. The Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) stipulates that an arrested person cannot be kept in detention for more than 24 hours.

Biswanath’s wife Binodini, who moved the commission on April 19, had alleged that her husband was falsely implicated in the case. He was picked up from their house in Sambalpur district. Biswanath had been held along with two others in connection with an attack on a BPO employee outside her Mancheswar office on April 13 this year.

The commission took note of the circumstances and observed that it was a clear case of illegal and unauthorised detention of an accused.