Jail officials should be guardians of inmates

CHENNAI: When a person is under the custody of the jail authorities, they should act as his guardian and not ill-treat or torture him for whatever reason which was not authorised by law, the Madras High Court has observed.Justice K Chandru made the observation on April 10 last while allowing a writ petition from one V Valli, whose husband died in the Central Prison in Puzhal on January 31, 2008, demanding a compensation of Rs 5 lakh.While the authorities concerned claimed that he died due to cardiac arrest, Valli alleged that he was done to death. There were injuries on the body, she pointed out.The petitioner’s husband, who was given life sentence by the court, had been inflicted with death sentence by the jail authorities, the judge added and directed the government to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the petitioner within eight weeks.