Gandhinagar, Mar 17 (IANS): The Gujarat government informed the Assembly on Thursday that there is a 43 per cent rise in custodial deaths in the state in the past two years.

Information regarding custodial deaths was sought by Amreli MLA Paresh Dhanani from the government. In reply, the government said a total of 157 custodial deaths have been reported in the state in the last two years. Moreover, there is a rising trend in custodial deaths.

The government tabled the data on Thursday, in which it admitted that a total of 88 incidents of custodial deaths were reported in 2020 and 100 such incidents in 2021. In 2019, a total of 70 such deaths were reported, which means there is a rise of 42.85 per cent in just two years.

Replying to Dhanani's query regarding the compensation provided to the family of the victims, Minister of State (MoS) home, Harsh Sanghvi informed the house that one family of the victim was provided Rs 6,00,000 in Surat and nothing else is left to pay to other families of the victims.

The MoS home informed that in Ahmedabad, one Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) has been suspended and an offence has been registered against four officers/staffers and a constable of Khanpur observation home under the Indian Penal Code sections 302, 323, 114, General Police Act sections 135(1), Atrocity Act section 3(2)(5), and Juvenile Justice Act section 75 and 82.