A Ladowal man, an agricultural labourer and milk vendor, was picked up on 16 August 1991 by six personnel of Police Chowki Ladowal and found dead in custody on the morning of 17 August 1991. The State admitted the death in custody but offered shifting explanations of snake-bite, vasovagal shock and chronic asthma, and produced an affidavit from the widow stating she wanted no action. The Division Bench rejected the explanations, holding the custodian must account for a death in custody and that, the explanation being unacceptable, the inference must follow that it was a custodial death, not a natural death. The Court accepted the writ and awarded Rs.1,50,000 in full and final satisfaction, Rs.50,000 withdrawable by the widow and the balance in FDRs for the three minor children. Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.
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.
How verification works →By judgment dated 3 May 1994, the Punjab and Haryana High Court (Coram: S. P. Kurdukar, H. S. Bedi, JJ.) returned findings adverse to 7 police personnel, namely: Head Constable, Police Chowki Ladowal, Ludhiana; Head Constable (Munshi), Police Chowki Ladowal, Ludhiana; Constable, Police Chowki Ladowal, Ludhiana; Punjab Home Guard, Police Chowki Ladowal, Ludhiana; Head Constable, Police Chowki Ladowal, Ludhiana; Constable, Police Chowki Ladowal, Ludhiana; Sub-Inspector, Police Chowki Ladowal, Ludhiana, and directed payment of compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh (Rs 1,50,000).
Compiled from the judgment and the cited sources. Findings are those of the court; this card adds none of its own.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment dated 3 May 1994 is the concluded position shown in the cited sources.
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.
Holding not recorded separately.
“We accordingly conclude that the death of a Ladowal man is a custodial death of which the respondents could not give satisfactory explanation.”
The Punjab and Haryana High Court recorded adverse findings against police personnel and ordered Rs 150,000.
(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.
These records are listed together because they share a state or a topic. That does not mean they are connected.
