Custodial Death Compensation: Kerala High Court Seeks Expeditious Finalisation Of SOP For Collection Of Prisoners' Legal Heirs Data

The Kerala High Court on Monday (05 January) directed the stakeholders to furnish their inputs to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the collection and verification of nominee/ legal heir details at the time of admission of prisoners in the State, so that the SOP can finalised at the earliest.The division bench comprising Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Syam Kumar V M was considering a suo motu petition concerning custodial deaths and compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased inmates.The bench had previously directed the State government to develop a database on the legal heirs of prison inmates. Following this, an affidavit was filed by the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department where it was submitted that fields for entering nominee/ legal heir details and a facility for uploading supporting documents have been incorporated into the e-Prisons software. On 21 November, the Court in its order recorded the submission by the Additional Chief Secretary that the data entry in the e-prison software would be completed within 30 days and the finalisation of SOP will be done within two months. It was submitted that the SOP for collection of data will be finalised within two months after consultation with stakeholder departments and functionaries. When the matter was taken up today, it was informed that the SOP will be finalised only after the remarks from the State Police Chief, Social Justice Department, Land Revenue Commissioner and Director General of Prisons are received. “Considering that the draft SOP has been pending since some time, the stakeholder who are requested to furnish the inputs will do so at the earliest so that the SOP can be finalised” Court ordered. The Court has also directed the State to provide the draft SOP to the counsel for the respondents and the amicus for their suggestions as well. The matter is posted on 19 January for further consideration. Case Title: Suo Motu v State of Kerala and Ors. Case No: WP(C) 36780/ 2017Counsel for Respondent - E Narayanan, KK Preetha, P Narayanan, B Ashok Shenoy, P S Gireesh, Arjun R Naik, Umasanker U. U, Aditya A Shenoy, T Ramprasad Unni, S M Prasanth, Shehin SAmicus Curiae - Santhosh MathewClick Here To Read/ Download Interim Order date 21.11.2025 Click Here To Read/ Download Interim Order dated 05.01.2026

Custodial Death Compensation: Kerala High Court Seeks Expeditious Finalisation Of SOP For Collection Of Prisoners' Legal Heirs Data

Anamika MJ

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