New Delhi: Five months after 32-year-old Asghar Ali Mansoori died by suicide in the Nashik central prison, his father has said that the statement the authorities have recorded on his behalf is very different from what he actually said. Meanwhile, however, the executive magistrate’s inquiry has found that there was no foul play in Asghar’s death.
As The Wire reported then, Asghar had swallowed a suicide note wrapped in a plastic bag before his death, as he was afraid the authorities would destroy it otherwise. The note, found during the post-mortem, named five prison officials who had been harassing him in jail.
The official statement attributed to Mumtaz Mansoori, recorded by the Nashik assistant collector, says that the family has no complaints about anyone harassing Asghar before his death. However, Mumtaz has alleged that this statement has been recorded incorrectly. It is also unlike that Mumtaz would make a statement like that, given that he has filed a petition in the high court seeking an independent probe into Asghar’s death.
In addition, the statement is written in Marathi – a language Mumtaz does not read or write. In a video, Mumtaz talks about how he was summoned to the collector’s office. He says he referred to the five jailor’s mentioned in Asghar’s suicide note. He was made to sign the Marathi statement, and only later realised that the facts had been misrepresented.
This is the video statement of Mumtaz Ali Mansoori narrating the entire event. It is a matter of #custodialtorture & eventual suicide. Officials are trying their best to protect their men. Instead of a judicial inquiry under 176(1A) of CrPC, statement is recorded by a collector. pic.twitter.com/ETwcnD1G8I
— Sukanya Shantha (@sukanyashantha) March 4, 2021
“This report is incorrect. It is a lie. A probe must be conducted,” Mumtaz says in the video.
Also read: Prisoner Raises Fresh Allegations of Torture Against Nashik Jail Officials
The Bombay high court and National Human Rights Commission are both looking into the matter, and it remains to be seen whether they will look into the executive magistrate’s inquiry and the allegedly incorrectly recorded statement. The court had earlier asked for all the inquiry documents, after the victim’s family said they had not even been told if the probe had begun.
Several co-prisoners had corroborated the allegations made in Asghar’s suicide note, and six prisoners even wrote a letter to this effect. They had also expressed a threat to their own life. One prisoner writes, “Once they find out that I have written a letter, they (accused officials) will have me killed or ask other prisoners to attack me.” These six prisoners had sent their letters to the chief justice of the Bombay high court, the inspector general of prisons, the principal judge of the Nashik district court and others.
Mumtaz and other relatives had earlier alleged that while the police called them to take down their statements, they refused to file an FIR against the accused officials.