There has been as many as 38 incidents of custodial deaths in Meghalaya since 2012.
This was informed by the Meghalaya government to the high court.
Reacting to it, a Meghalaya high court bench comprising chief justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice HS Thangkhiew said that an exercise must be carried out to ascertain which custodial deaths were unnatural.
The Meghalaya high court also fixed a tentative amount of Rs 10 lakh as compensation for the family of the custodial death victim, who died unnaturally.
It added that the compensation amount should be increased if the deceased was aged below 40.
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Furthermore, the Meghalaya high court has directed the state government to issue advertisements in newspapers inviting information on custodial deaths, in addition to the 38 indicated by the state.
“The advertisements should provide that any person with verified information on any other custodial death in the state, apart from the 38 indicated by the state, during the period 2012 onwards, may write to the Court with supporting documents or may even appear before this bench with all particulars in support,” the Meghalaya high court stated.
The next hearing on the matter has been scheduled for June 29.