Mansa jail undertrial dies, family alleges negligence by officials

MANSA :A 26-year-old undertrial of Mansa jail died on Thursday morning, shortly after he was brought to the local civil hospital for treatment.

Jail superintendent Devender Singh said undertrial Sucha Singh used to have fits and was under medical observation in the jail after he was lodged here a week ago. He was booked in an assault case in 2014 and had missed a court hearing earlier this month, following which he was sent to judicial custody on Friday last.

Sucha Singh died half an hour after he was admitted to the civil hospital, Devender said.

Meanwhile, his mother Paramjeet Kaur said that days before he was sent to jail he had injuries which turned fatal leading to his death. “One of our neighbours attacked him after attempting to rape our daughterin-law. My son saved his wife and was later attacked by the assailants before he was sent to jail.”

The parents of the victim recorded their statement in the presence of civil judge (senior division) Manila Chug, who visited the civil hospital during the postmortem examination.

Last month, another undertrial Darshan Singh of Sardulgarh, who was nabbed by the police with 24 bottles of smuggled liquor from Haryana, had died in judicial custody. The incident was followed up by allegations of police torture by the family of the deacesed and the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal.