Can the Supreme Court, in a special leave petition against a High Court's compensation award in a custodial death case, direct payment of further interim compensation pending final adjudication of the petition, where the High Court's award was found grossly inadequate?

Yes. Where the High Court had granted a pittance of compensation quantified at Rs.1 lakh notwithstanding its own finding of custodial violence, and the finding that the deceased was the sole breadwinner of his family who died an unnatural death was not even disputed by the State, the Supreme Court directed, as an interim measure, payment of compensation of Rs.25,00,000/- by the State to the petitioners, the final quantum to be determined while adjudicating the petition.

Constitution of India — Article 226 — Custodial death — Compensation, public law — Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — s.176 — Judicial inquiry report — Central Bureau of Investigation — Interim compensation — Constitution of India — Article 226 — Custodial death — Compensation grossly inadequate — Held: Where the High Court itself found that the deceased was subjected to custodial violence and died as a result thereof, but granted a pittance of compensation quantified at Rs.1 lakh and did not issue any consequential direction for registration of an FIR or investigation, the compensation awarded was completely inadequate and not commensurate with the gravity of the loss suffered by the petitioners. (¶4, 10, 11) Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — s.176 — Judicial inquiry report — Central Bureau of Investigation — Held further: The explanation offered by the senior officers of the State — that no police or disciplinary action was taken because the judicial inquiry report under Section 176 CrPC had not been served upon the police officials — was a cover-up story and an attempt to pull the wool over the Court's eyes, since the State had itself, in its own reply before the High Court, disclosed that the judicial inquiry had been instituted and its report awaited; the investigation into the custodial death was accordingly entrusted to the Central Bureau of Investigation. (¶14, 15, 18) Constitution of India — Custodial death — Post-mortem report — Interim compensation — Held further: A clear attempt was made to mislead the inquiry, since the medical report prepared at the jail at the time of death made no reference whatsoever to the head injury or the other injuries subsequently noticed in the post-mortem report, which recorded the cause of death as cardio-respiratory arrest due to head injury and its complications caused by a hard and blunt object; as an interim measure, compensation of Rs.25,00,000/- was directed to be paid by the State to the petitioners, the final quantum to be determined while adjudicating the petition. (¶16, 17, 22)

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