Court case(1993) 2 SCC 746

Suman Behera, aged about 22, was taken into custody by the officer in charge of the Jeraikela police station in Orissa on 1 December 1987 in connection with a theft and was kept handcuffed in the police outpost. The next morning his body, bearing multiple injuries, was found on a railway track near the outpost. The police claimed that he had escaped from custody and been run over by a train. His mother wrote a letter to the Supreme Court, which was treated as a writ petition under Article 32, and the District Judge was asked to inquire. The inquiry found that Suman had died of injuries inflicted while in police custody.

Verma J. (with Venkatachala J.) held that the award of compensation in a proceeding under Article 32 or 226 is "a remedy available in public law, based on strict liability for contravention of fundamental rights, to which the principle of sovereign immunity does not apply, even though it may be available as a defence in private law in an action based on tort". The public-law remedy is distinct from and in addition to the private-law remedy of damages; it is for the enforcement of the fundamental right, "a mode of redress" to penalise the wrongdoer and compensate the victim. The Court awarded Rs 1,50,000 to the petitioner. Dr Anand J., concurring, added that the citizen's right to liberty under Article 21 must be enforced against the State's claim to immunity, drawing on Article 9(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and that "the purpose of public law is not only to civilise public power but also to assure the citizen that they live under a legal system which aims to protect their interests".