{
 "record_id": "CW-2024-0037",
 "status": "current",
 "merged_id": "CWC-0867",
 "alias_merged_ids": [],
 "display_title": "Silapathar Man v. State of Assam & 3 Ors.",
 "display_title_redacted": "Silapathar Man v. State of Assam & 3 Ors.",
 "state": "Assam",
 "district": "Dhemaji",
 "district_at_time": null,
 "city_town": "Silapathar",
 "police_station_or_unit": "Silapathar Police Station",
 "court": "Gauhati High Court",
 "court_as_verified": "Gauhati High Court",
 "bench": null,
 "case_title": "Silapathar Man v. State of Assam & 3 Ors.",
 "case_number": "WP(C)/3604/2016",
 "citation": null,
 "judges": [
  "Manash Ranjan Pathak",
  "Mitali Thakuria"
 ],
 "judgment_date": "2024-05-21",
 "date_precision": "day",
 "judgment_year": 2024,
 "incident_date": "2015-10-30",
 "incident_year": 2015,
 "category": "Custodial death",
 "admin_category": "brutality",
 "admin_subcategory": "custodial_death",
 "subcategory": "custodial_death",
 "subcategory_display": "custodial death",
 "protest_override_heuristic": false,
 "outcome_type": "adverse_finding_compensation",
 "sections": [
  "Assam Forest Regulation Act ss.40/41/49",
  "Constitution Art. 21",
  "Constitution Art. 226"
 ],
 "officers": [
  {
   "name": null,
   "rank": null,
   "unit": "Assam Police escort party (Dhemaji)",
   "role": "named_only",
   "publish_grade": "unnamed",
   "gate_reasons": [
    "key2:no_row"
   ],
   "ledger_role": "held_liable",
   "key2": null,
   "key2_agy": null,
   "key2_claude": null,
   "key2_union": null,
   "key2_gemapi": null,
   "key2_openrouter": null,
   "key2_gpt56": null,
   "grok": null,
   "jev_risk": null,
   "jev_p_culpable": null,
   "key2_gpt": null,
   "later_outcome": "none_found",
   "name_public": null,
   "display": "Police personnel, Assam Police escort party (Dhemaji)"
  }
 ],
 "officer_count": 0,
 "victims": [
  {
   "name": null,
   "age": null,
   "gender": "male",
   "descriptor": "Silapathar man"
  }
 ],
 "victims_redacted": null,
 "anonymised": false,
 "victim_count": 1,
 "sentence_type": "compensation_only",
 "sentence_max_years": null,
 "compensation_inr": 300000,
 "force": "state_police",
 "primary_source_url": "https://indiankanoon.org/doc/54648071/",
 "secondary_sources": [
  "https://lawyerenews.com/legal_detail/human-rights-are-universal-gauhati-high-court-orders-compensation-in-custodial-death-case"
 ],
 "summary": "The Gauhati High Court held the State of Assam liable to pay Rs.3,00,000 compensation to the next of kin of undertrial a Silapathar man, who died on 30 October 2015 after falling from a running escort bus near Jalakiasuti while being brought back from Jonai court to Dhemaji District Jail in police custody. The Court recorded that the escorting police personnel had already faced departmental proceedings and been punished with stoppage of two annual increments. Relying on the Supreme Court's ruling in Re-Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons, it held that persons suffering unnatural death in custody are victims whose next of kin are entitled to compensation. Since the petitioner's identity as the father was disputed, the Court directed the amount to be deposited before the District & Sessions Judge, Dhemaji within two months for disbursement only after verification and identification. Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.",
 "summary_verified": "The Gauhati High Court held the State of Assam liable to pay Rs.3,00,000 compensation to the next of kin of undertrial a Silapathar man, who died on 30 October 2015 after falling from a running escort bus near Jalakiasuti while being brought back from Jonai court to Dhemaji District Jail in police custody. The Court recorded that the escorting police personnel had already faced departmental proceedings and been punished with stoppage of two annual increments. Relying on the Supreme Court's ruling in Re-Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons, it held that persons suffering unnatural death in custody are victims whose next of kin are entitled to compensation. Since the petitioner's identity as the father was disputed, the Court directed the amount to be deposited before the District & Sessions Judge, Dhemaji within two months for disbursement only after verification and identification.",
 "court_quote": "In view of above and also in view of the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Re-Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons (supra) and considering the fact that the deceased was in police custody when the incident took place, we are of the considered opinion that the compensation to the tune of Rs. 3 (three) Lakhs is found to be reasonable and justified and that the State authorities are liable to pay the said compensation amount to the next of kin of the deceased [name withheld].",
 "court_quote_para": "15",
 "confidence": "high",
 "verdict": "accept",
 "verdict_note": "Gauhati HC ordered Rs.3 lakh compensation for undertrial's death in police escort custody; escort staff already penalised departmentally.",
 "verification_status": "V2",
 "verification_badge": "V2 · Externally reported",
 "tier_badge": "Externally reported",
 "tier": "Tier A — Externally reported or officially recorded",
 "tier_history": [
  "Tier A — Externally reported or officially recorded"
 ],
 "allegations": [
  {
   "category": "Custodial death",
   "primary": true,
   "position": "Material fact supported",
   "position_explainer": "Reliable material supports a specifically documented fact relevant to that allegation, not necessarily the full allegation, causation, intent, unlawfulness, or responsibility.",
   "official_finding_relation": "supports allegation"
  }
 ],
 "institutional_response": [
  {
   "date": "2024-05-21",
   "action_type": "Order issued",
   "status": "Concluded",
   "authority": "Gauhati High Court",
   "independence": "External",
   "legal_effect": "Binding",
   "description": "The Gauhati High Court recorded adverse findings against police personnel and ordered Rs 300,000.",
   "disposition": "Compensation ordered · Supports allegation (for the compensated wrong only)",
   "source": "WP(C)/3604/2016",
   "recheck": "Not yet re-checked."
  }
 ],
 "later_proceedings": [],
 "final_outcome_url": null,
 "followup_history": [
  {
   "date": "2026-09-19",
   "scope": "Round-8 full re-verification: published record re-checked against the judgment text (outcome, officers, quote, key facts) plus methodology-compliance pass",
   "method": "skills-guided adversarial re-verification of the published record against the judgment text (reverify/t1-*/adversarial-8.jsonl)",
   "result": "holds",
   "corrections_applied": []
  }
 ],
 "followup_status": "checked",
 "last_checked": "2026-09-19",
 "link_checked_per_url": [
  {
   "url": "https://indiankanoon.org/doc/54648071/",
   "link_checked": null
  },
  {
   "url": "https://lawyerenews.com/legal_detail/human-rights-are-universal-gauhati-high-court-orders-compensation-in-custodial-death-case",
   "link_checked": null
  }
 ],
 "source_assessment": {
  "established": null,
  "basis": null
 },
 "v3_basis": null,
 "publication_basis": null,
 "reviews": [],
 "retracted": {
  "is_retracted": false
 },
 "fidelity_checked": true,
 "verified_by": [
  "chunk-71"
 ],
 "merged_case_id": "GAP2-44-002",
 "officers_named_public": 0,
 "record_flag": null,
 "service": "police",
 "watch": "babuwatch"
}