Pratul Kumar Sinha Vs. State of Bihar and anr. - Court Judgment

A.M. Ahmadi and; Yogeshwar Dayal, JJ.

1. The learned counsel for the State of Bihar states that all the persons, allegedly involved in the commission of crime in question in regard to which Case Nos. 144 and 162 of 1992 came to be registered have since been arrested and are in jail. Therefore, so far as that part is concerned nothing further remains to be done.

2. However, because of the atrocities committed by the police, three young lives were lost. One of them was a bachelor while the other two were married and left behind their young widows. We think that in order to ensure that they do not have difficulty on account of this loss some ex-gratia payment must be made to them. We direct that an ex-gratia payment of Rs 25,000 each be paid to the widows of the married persons and the parents of the bachelor. In order to ensure that this money is not frittered away, we direct the District Judge concerned of Jagannathpur to ensure that proper arrangements are made so far as the utilisation of the amount is concerned. We, therefore, direct the State Government to deposit the money with the District Judge of the area comprising Jagannathpur Police Station who will inform the beneficiaries about this Court's order and make such arrangement as he considers appropriate after ascertaining the views of the beneficiaries in regard to this ex-gratia amount. If the State Government so desires it will be free to take such action as it considers necessary to recover this amount from the tort-feasors. The amount should be deposited with the District Judge within six weeks from today. With these observations, we dispose of this writ petition.