The Central Government Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020, a total of 113 and 1584 deaths in police and judicial custody respectively had taken place.

On the question of the number of encounters that had taken place in the last one year, the Centre said a total of 112 cases had been registered in respect to encounter deaths during the period April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020.

Chhattisgarh witnessed the maximum 39 encounters followed by Uttar Pradesh with 26 encounter deaths.

The Minister of State (MoS) of Home Affairs, G Kishan Reddy was responding to questions from
Congress MP Karti Chidambram on custodial deaths.

The Minister also stated that as informed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), one case of rape in police custody in the State of Rajasthan had been registered with the Commission during the year 2019-20.

On being asked by the MP whether any action had been taken against the perpetrating police officials, the Minister replied that as per the NHRC, it did not make any recommendation for action against the erring police personnel. It had, however, recommended monetary relief to the tune of Rs. 4.44 crore in cases of custodial deaths and Rs. 88 lakh in cases of encounter deaths.

The MoS added that the Ministry of Home Affairs had issued an advisory on July 13 to all State Governments/ UT Administrations requesting them to sensitize and direct all the functionaries at the State, district and below levels to follow and adhere to the laws of the land and the guidelines issued by the NHRC on custodial deaths, and to act firmly against any abuse of law with respect to Custodial Deaths.

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