NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION Tihar, New Delhi regarding the death of an undertrial prisoner Sushil Kumar, aged 49 years, s/o Shri Amar Singh, in its custody. 4.28 Pursuant to the Commission’s directions, a report was received, which revealed that the undertrial prisoner Sushil Kumar was lodged in the jail on 28.03.2012 in connection with a case u/s 279/304A of IPC. On 30.03.2012, he went to the jail dispensary and was treated for loss of appetite and weakness. On 03.04.2012, he was again treated and advised to review with jail’s visiting medical specialist, but he did not go. On 09.04.2012, when he again came with the complaint of weakness, after providing necessary treatment, he was sent to LNJP Hospital for treatment where he was declared brought dead by the doctor. Post-mortem examination report did not reveal any fresh injury on the body of the deceased and, since the cause of death could not be ascertained, viscera was preserved. After considering the post-mortem report, FSL report of viscera and histopathological report, the board of doctors opined the cause of death as due to bilateral pulmonary tuberculosis, which is a natural cause of death. During the magisterial enquiry, the enquiry Magistrate concluded that there was a gap of about five hours in giving emergency medical treatment to the deceased. This occurred due to the callous and negligent attitude on the part of the jail administration at Central Jail No.1, Tihar, in that the first two hours from 08:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. were lost due to negligence on the part of jail officials. The Jail Supdt. tried to mislead the court by saying that the deceased was taken to DDU Hospital on 9/4/12 at 07:55 a.m., which was against the facts placed on record. The said fact prima facie showed negligence and dereliction of duty on the part of the jail official at Central Jail no.1, Tihar. 4.29 The Commission, on perusal of the material placed on record, observed that in view of the findings of the magisterial enquiry that the jail administration had been negligent in providing medical treatment to the undertrial prisoner Sushil Kumar, there had been violation of his human rights and for this the State must bear the liability. The Commission, therefore, issued a notice to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, through its Chief Secretary, to show cause as to why monetary relief of ` 3,00,000/- (Rupees Three Lakh only) u/s 18 of the PHRA, 1993, be not recommended to be paid to the next-of-kin of the deceased. 4.30 The DG (Prisons), Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi was also asked to submit an action taken report on the findings of the magisterial enquiry. In response, a reply was received from the Law Officer, Prison, Delhi, wherein it was denied that the delay caused in getting the proper and timely treatment of the deceased prisoner was due to the negligence of the Jail Officials. It was attributed to other reasons such as availability of proper ambulance and stretcher in time and DAP escorts, etc. Further, it was submitted that during transportation of the patient from Central Jail to LNJP Hospital, the patient suffered a sudden cardiac arrest ANNUAL REPORT 2016-2017 45