State's bounden duty to ensure safety of prisoners in custody: HC

IT is the duty of the State to ensure the safety and well-being of prisoners in its custody and "gangs" are not permitted to proliferate in jails, the Delhi High Court has said while granting compensation to the kin of a person who died in a fight between two groups of inmates in prison.

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The high court said the State, owing a duty to ensure the security of the general public, including persons who are incarcerated, has a responsibility to compensate in cases of unnatural deaths in custody.

Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar directed the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) to pay Rs 3 lakh compensation to the kin of deceased Javed, out of which Rs 1 lakh was earlier paid to his mother (now deceased).