CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Thursday awarded a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to one Bilasini Behera of Athagarh for the alleged custodial death of her son, Bhaskar Behera.The division bench of Chief Justice V Gopalagowda and Justice B N Mohapatra, while awarding the compensation, directed for adjustment of ` 1 lakh already paid to the petitioner in pursuance of the orders of the Orissa State Human Rights Commission. The balance Rs 3 lakh shall be paid in three months failing which an interest of 9 per cent would be imposed.The court also directed for a fixed deposit of Rs 2 lakh in a nationalised bank and any withdrawal will be with the permission of the court. The remaining Rs 1 lakh shall be paid in cash equally to the parents of the deceased.Bilasini Behera had filed the writ petition seeking a direction to the State Government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for death of her son in police custody. The petitioner had also appealed to the court to direct the CBI to investigate the case.Investigation revealed that on June 14, 2007, the then ASI of Athagarh police station NK Das along with other policemen had gone to Rajnagar village to probe an assault case. A girl was allegedly assaulted by one Kabu Behera about 15 days earlier.It was alleged that police instead of searching for the accused entered the house of the petitioner in the dead of the night. They had dragged Bhaskar Behera out and beat him up. As a result, Behera had fallen unconscious and died while being taken to the hospital.While the incident had created a furore, the petitioner approached the court pleading that she had lost her earning son without any fault and thus, the State is liable to pay compensation. Bhaskar was a driver and was earning around Rs 4,000 a month.
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