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Mumbai: Five years after a life convict wrapped a suicide note in a polythene bag and swallowed it before hanging himself from a ceiling fan inside Nashik Central Prison, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has formed a committee to conduct a “spot investigation” into the matter. Thirty-one-year-old Asghar Ali Mansoori had named five prison officials in his letter.

Mansoori died by suicide on October 7, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the police, Mansoori had strung together the elastic straps of masks used during the pandemic and hanged himself from a ceiling fan. Mansoori’s father Mumtaz Ali has questioned this claim. “How can a full grown man, weighing over 75 kilos, hang himself with the flimsy elastic straps of surgical masks?” he had asked. 

Afraid that the suicide note – the only evidence of the torture he was allegedly subjected to – would be destroyed by jail officials, Mansoori had swallowed the note. The suicide note was found in his abdomen at the time of the post-mortem. The note, which should have been considered a “dying declaration” in this case, was ignored, and the Maharashtra police refused to investigate the matter. Some of the accused prison officials have been transferred to other jails; a few have retired.

Five years after the incident, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has decided to make a “spot visit” to the prison. The incident was first reported in The Wire, and the commission is making this visit following two complaints made on the basis of The Wire’s reporting.

A screengrab taken during a video call between Asghar Ali Mansoori and his family members. Mansoori would speak to his family at least once a week on a video call. Photo: By arrangement/The Wire.

Mansoori had been in prison for a little over 14 years in connection with a murder case. As a long-serving prisoner, Mansoori was working as a jail warder. At this job, Mansoori wrote in his note, he was harassed and........

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