Ritika Singh Sisodiya/TNNLucknow: A Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court has ordered a judicial inquiry into the alleged death of a man in the custody of UP STF in Pratapgarh.The court observed that the victim’s postmortem report mentioned antemortem injuries and his family had alleged his torture by STF personnel in custody.The court directed the district and sessions judge, Pratapgarh, to issue directions to the chief judicial magistrate to conduct the judicial inquiry. It said the inquiry should, preferably, be completed within six weeks from the production of a certified copy of the order, and its report should be submitted before the court in a sealed cover on Oct 27.A bench of justices Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra passed the order on a criminal writ petition filed by Jhanvi Singh. The petitioner had sought transfer of the investigation registered at Sangipur police station in Pratapgarh to the CBI or any other independent agency.Earlier, since the death had allegedly occurred in police custody, the court had directed Pratapgarh SP to file a personal affidavit regarding compliance with Section 176(1-A) CrPC. The state informed the court that the matter was sent to the SP for a judicial inquiry. However, subsequent reports made it clear that no judicial inquiry under Section 176(1-A) was conducted.The court also noted that the SDM Sadar, Pratapgarh, had conducted an inquiry on Aug 16, 2024 and concluded that the death appeared to be natural as the deceased died of a heart attack. However, the postmortem report recorded antemortem injuries on the deceased.
