The Maharashtra government on Tuesday, 28 July issued a comprehensive Government Resolution (GR) establishing unified, state-wide protocols for investigating custodial deaths and enforcing preventive measures across all police stations. The directive brings together Supreme Court rulings, mandates from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), and procedures aligned with India's new criminal law codes — the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA).

Scope and Definition

The resolution formally adopts the NHRC's definition of custodial death, which covers fatalities occurring in both 'formal custody' and 'constructive custody' — the latter referring to physical detention for interrogation without a formal arrest. For deaths in judicial custody, the responsibility to notify the NHRC rests with prison authorities, not local police.

This consolidation is significant: until now, Maharashtra lacked a single, binding framework that unified human rights commission mandates with the new criminal codes that replaced the IPC, CrPC, and Indian Evidence Act.

Designated Probe Agencies and Immediate Protocols

To ensure impartial investigations, the GR designates specific agencies by jurisdiction. All custodial death probes in Mumbai will be handled exclusively by the Crime Branch. In the rest of Maharashtra, investigations will fall under the State Crime Investigation Department (CID).

Immediate post-incident steps are clearly prescribed. The police station in-charge must secure and isolate the Scene of Occurrence (SoO) to prevent evidence tampering. The death must be registered as an Accidental Death (A.D.) on the CCTNS portal without delay, and all relevant CCTV footage must be preserved. Full details must be reported within 24 hours to the NHRC, SHRC, Additional Director General of Police (Protection of Civil Rights), and district and police control rooms.

Mandatory magisterial inquiries under Section 196(2) of the BNSS 2023 must be initiated, and an Executive Magistrate must conduct an inquest under Section 194(4) of the BNSS 2023 with multi-angle video recording. Family members must be present during the inquest, and a female pancha is required if the deceased is a woman.

Forensic Rigour and Post-Mortem Standards

The directive mandates strict scientific standards for autopsies. Post-mortems must be conducted at designated government institutions, including Grant Medical College and JJ Hospital in Mumbai, BJ Medical College in Pune, GMC Miraj, GMC Nagpur, and GMC Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Each autopsy must be performed by a panel of at least three expert medical officers, including a female doctor if the deceased is female.

Audio-video recording of the entire dissection and organ examination is mandatory. Forensic teams must inspect the scene using the eSakshya system and carry out crime scene reconstructions. Digital evidence must be seized in compliance with Section 63 of the BSA 2023. Where police involvement or torture is suspected, Call Detail Records (CDR), Subscriber Detail Records (SDR), and tower location dump data of the officers concerned will be analysed.

CCTV Surveillance and Preventive Measures

Drawing on the Supreme Court's directives in Paramvir Singh Saini v. Baljit Singh and Ors., the GR mandates CCTV cameras with night vision and clear audio recording at all entries, exits, main corridors, interrogation rooms, lockups, restrooms, and station premises. Hard drives and servers must retain an 18-month backup of all footage.

State-Level Oversight Committees (SLOC) and District-Level Oversight Committees (DLOC) will monitor compliance and conduct surprise inspections. Live CCTV monitors must remain operational in Station House Officer (SHO) rooms, Inspector rooms, and Wireless rooms at all times.

Under Section 53 of BNSS 2023, every suspect must undergo a medical examination before formal arrest, with existing injuries explicitly documented to prevent false allegations of police assault. Suspects who were beaten by the public must be admitted to hospital before being placed in police cells. Detainees in police remand must receive medical check-ups every 48 hours.

Financial Compensation for Victims' Families

The GR reaffirms financial assistance for the legal heirs of those who die in custody. If a CID investigation concludes that the death resulted from police negligence, the government will pay ₹1 lakh to the legal heirs. If a formal criminal case is registered against the involved police personnel, the compensation rises to ₹1.5 lakh.

With this resolution, Maharashtra joins a small set of states with a codified, end-to-end custodial death framework — though rights groups are likely to scrutinise whether implementation keeps pace with the directive's scope.