Tripura: HC asks state govt to pay Rs 10 lakh compensation to kin of deceased jail inmates

AGARTALA: The state government has been ordered to pay Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of a jail inmate who died of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) due to medical negligence on the part of the correctional home by a division bench of the Tripura High Court, which upheld a single division judgement.

Chandan Dey died of encephalitis in June 2017 while serving a six-year sentence at Central Correctional Home in Sipahijala district after being found guilty in a car accident.

Dey, who worked as a driver before being imprisoned, was transferred to GBP hospital in Agartala after falling ill, but doctors there recommended him to SSKM hospital in Kolkata when his health condition worsened, said Roy Barman, who represented the family in the high court.

However, the detainee was not transported to Kolkata and died soon after.

After hearing the case, Justice S Talapata of the single bench ruled the prison officials accountable for Dey’s untimely death in January 2018 and ordered the government to pay the victim’s next of kin Rs 10 lakh in compensation.

The jail authorities, on the other hand, appealed the single bench order to the division bench of the court. “On May 20, a division bench of Justice Arindam Nath and Justice S Chattopadhyay maintained the single bench’s verdict, ordering the government to pay the compensation,” Roy Barman said.