However, High Court orders State to pay 20 lakh compensation to the victims mother as he was the sole breadwinner
STAFF REPORTER Mumbai
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday ordered the State Government to pay Rs 20 lakh
as compensation to the mother of custodial death victim Khwaja Yunus.
The court, however, rejected his mothers plea to prosecute six policemen who were part of the team handling the Khwaja Yunus case.
A division bench comprising Justices A M Khanvilkar and P D Kode passed the order while hearing a petition filed by Khwajas mother Aasiya Begum.
Dubai- based engineer Khawaj Yunus was arrested for his alleged involvement in a bomb blast in a BEST bus outside Ghatkopar station on December 02, 2002.
In January 2003, the police claimed that he had escaped when the police jeep, in which he was being taken to Aurangabad, met with an accident.
But a CID probe revealed that this was a cooked up story and that Yunus had died in police custody.
Khwajas mother had filed a petition seeking adequate compensation from the state government and demanded the trial of the police officers responsible for her sons death in custody.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Mihir Desai said that in cases of custodial death, it is very difficult to get witnesses or to collect evidence.
Desai said it was for the court to decide whether the statement of the eyewitness was credible enough to result in conviction.
He further argued that the police officers had lied about them being elsewhere when Yunus was allegedly beaten to death in custody, as borne out by their cell phone records.
At present, only four policemen – API Sachin Vaze and constables Rajendra Tiwari, Rajaram Nikam and Vasant Desai – are facing trial on charges of murdering Khwaja Yunus and destruction of evidence.
This is because the CID report had said that the other six had no role in the custodial death.
