CW-2003-0015Goalpara, AssamJudgment 6 March 2003

Dhupdhara Man vs State of Assam and Ors.

The Gauhati High Court (B.B. Deb, J.) allowed the writ petition arising from the death of a Dhupdhara man, arrested on 8 September 1997 and found hanged inside the Dhupdhara police lock-up the same afternoon. The Court rejected the torture-murder allegation on the post-mortem evidence but held the death was a suicide enabled by gross and reckless negligence of the lock-up staff, noting a blanket had no business inside the lock-up in September and the iron-barred lock-up was visible from the duty point. It awarded Rs. 50,000 compensation to the widow, payable within 45 days, and left the State free to enquire into and proceed against the erring officials. Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.

Externally reportedV2
What this record means

This page documents a court-adjudicated case from the judgment and cited sources below. Findings are attributed to the court; this record does not add findings of its own.

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Report card

By judgment dated 6 March 2003 in Civil Rule No. 131 of 1998, the Gauhati High Court (Coram: B.B. Deb, J.) returned findings adverse to the accused police personnel, and directed payment of compensation of Rs 50,000.

Register number
AS 18 CW 0001
Case reference
Civil Rule No. 131 of 1998 / (2003) CriLJ 4536; (2003) 2 GLR 386
Court and date
Gauhati High Court (Coram: B.B. Deb, J.), 6 March 2003
Officer(s) at the material time
Not identified in the cited sources (Dhupdhara Police Station)
Present service status
Not ascertained from the cited sources.
Provisions invoked
Not stated in the cited sources
Finding of the Court (extract)
“The deceased committed suicide while in custody and that was due to gross negligence of the Police personnel of that PS and thus, the Police authority cannot totally absolve its liability.” (at para 5)
Verdict, sentence and quantum
Adverse finding + compensation. Sentence: compensation only. Compensation: Rs 50,000.
Present status of the proceedings
No further proceedings are recorded in the cited sources; the judgment is the concluded position shown.

Compiled from the judgment and the cited sources. Findings are those of the court; this card adds none of its own.

The Gauhati High Court judgment dated 6 March 2003 is the concluded position shown in the cited sources.

Recorded allegations

1
Custodial deathPrimary
Material fact supported

Reliable material supports a specifically documented fact relevant to that allegation, not necessarily the full allegation, causation, intent, unlawfulness, or responsibility.

Official finding: supports allegation.

What the court found

Holding not recorded separately.

“The deceased committed suicide while in custody and that was due to gross negligence of the Police personnel of that PS and thus, the Police authority cannot totally absolve its liability.” (para 5)

Institutional response

1
6 Mar 2003

Order issued

Concluded
Gauhati High Court External · Binding

The Gauhati High Court recorded adverse findings against police personnel and ordered Rs 50,000.

Compensation ordered · Supports allegation (for the compensated wrong only).
Source: (2003) CriLJ 4536; (2003) 2 GLR 386
Not yet re-checked.

Follow-up history

1
19 Sep 2026

(Round-8 full re-verification: published record re-checked against the judgment text (outcome, officers, quote, key facts) plus methodology-compliance pass; skills-guided adversarial re-verification of the published record against the judgment text (reverify/t1-*/adversarial-8.jsonl))

Corrections (0): No corrections recorded.

Review: Solo Staff combined review (one combined attestation) — not yet recorded.

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