Navi Mumbai Police to Pay Rs 15 Lakhs to Deceased Painter's Family Who Died Due to Delayed Medical Aid

Mumbai: Vijay V Singh, of the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC), has ordered the Navi Mumbai police to compensate the family of a contract painter. The painter had approached them with a complaint of assault but succumbed to his injuries due to the police's delay in taking him to the hospital.

The MSHRC directed the police to pay Rs 15 lakh to the painter's family.

On September 9, 2022, Ramsingh Chavan, the contract painter, visited Kharghar police station to file a case against three individuals who had assaulted him earlier that day.

By the time Chavan arrived, the suspects had already filed a complaint. After being told to wait next to a restroom for three hours, Chavan lost consciousness. The panel stated, “The delay in providing treatment is evident as the panel itself possesses video clips showing him sitting uncomfortably, requesting water, and complaining of chest pain. However, the officer only awoke from his slumber after the man fell unconscious.”

Previously, the Calcutta High Court granted Rs 15 lakhs in compensation to the family of a 15-year-old who unexpectedly died in police custody at the Mallarpur Police Station in the Birbhum district of West Bengal in 2020.

The Court took the victim's family's financial circumstances into account, ordering the State to provide Rs 15 lakhs in compensation. "It is a regrettable state of affairs in which a young boy of 15 years died in police custody," the court stated during the PIL hearing.

The Court emphasized that the State must educate all police personnel about their roles and responsibilities under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.