Widow of Garbeta ‘killing’ accused seeks relief

The wife of an accused, who had been arrested in connection with the skeletons' recovery case of Garbeta in West Midnapore in 2011, has moved the Calcutta High Court demanding a compensation of Rs 25 lakh from the state government for the death of her husband, Kiriti Roy. The petition alleged that Roy died of medical negligence when he was in custody.

Hearing the plea, Justice Dipankar Dutta of the Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the state government to file an affidavit within six weeks.

On June 22, 2011, seven skeletons were recovered from a pit near CPM MLA Sushanta Ghosh's house in Garbeta. Ghosh was arrested in connection with the incident but was later released on bail.

The CID had arrested Kiriti Roy (56), a school teacher, on August 16, 2011. Roy was diagnosed with brain cancer in the jail and shifted to a hospital. But the hospital returned Roy to jail custody after some medical treatment. According to the petition, Roy was released on bail in March 2012 and the state did not oppose the bail plea as he was ill.

On Friday, advocate Ashimesh Goswami, counsel of the petitioner, pleaded that the jail authorities did not provide proper care to Roy even after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Following this, the cancer aggravated and he was released on bail in March 2012. Roy died on December 4, 2012.

Goswami contended that if the jail authorities had arranged for proper medical care, Roy's death could have been avoided.

The trial in the skeleton recovery case is pending.

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