The judgment of the Kerala High Court records the following account. A Cherthala man, 24, a mosaic-flooring worker who was not an accused in any case, went with his father to the Sherthala Circle Inspector's office on the morning of 5 October 1988 for questioning over stolen articles and was detained without production before any magistrate; he died of injuries on 6 October 1988, with police claiming suicide by a broken tube-light. The DGP's enquiry proved custody beyond 24 hours, from 9 a.m. on 5 October to after 1.30 p.m. on 6 October, and that he was arrayed as an accused only after the incident. The High Court held his fundamental rights were nakedly violated, termed it detention in illegal and unlawful custody for more than 24 hours, awarded Rs.3,00,000 compensation with Rs.2,500 costs, directed CBI investigation, and ordered the DSP to register a crime over the unlawful detention. 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 27 January 1997, the Kerala High Court (Coram: K. A. Abdul Gafoor, J.) returned findings adverse to 4 police personnel, namely: Police Constable, Sherthala Police Station; Police Constable, Sherthala Police Station; Sub-Inspector, Sherthala Police Station; Circle Inspector, Sherthala, and directed payment of compensation of Rs 3 lakh (Rs 3,00,000).
Compiled from the judgment and the cited sources. Findings are those of the court; this card adds none of its own.
The Kerala High Court judgment dated 27 January 1997 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.
“detention of a citizen in illegal and unlawful custody for more than 24 hours, from 9 a.m. on 5.10.1988 to at least 1.30 p.m. on 6.10.1988, when he succumbed to injuries.” (para 11)
The Kerala High Court recorded adverse findings against police personnel and ordered Rs 300,000.
(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.
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