Govt asked to pay damages to widow

new delhi: the delhi high court has directed the city government to pay rs 1 lakh, in addition to rs 2.5 lakh already paid to the widow of a man who died in police custody more than seven years ago. a division bench of justice anil dev singh and justice madan b lokur admitted the government’s appeal against the compensation awarded by a single judge bench in 2000, but directed the government to deposit the remaining amount before its appeal could be heard.mukta gupta, representing the state, said rs 2.5 lakh has already been paid to iqbal begum, widow of sayyed masoom ali, who died in police custody. the state in its application claimed that deceased was elderly and died due to a major heart problem. iqbal begum’s lawyers, will mathews and prachi bajpai, claimed that ali was a retired government servant.he was picked up by the seelampur police on august 27, 1994 on a complaint filed by one mohammad farman, which later turned out to be false. but ali was badly beaten and tortured and died in police custody the same day, iqbal begum’s lawyers alleged. they said several attempts were made to pressure her into withdrawing the case. attempts were made to implicate her son in criminal cases, they alleged. acting on a complaint filed by iqbal begum in the high court in this regard, justice usha mehra had directed the police commissioner to provide security to her family on may 17, 1995. a single judge bench of justice r s sodhi on november 17, 2000, ruled in favour of iqbal begum and directed the government to pay a compensation of rs 3.5 lakh.