India, July 29 -- The Maharashtra government on Tuesday issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) to prevent custodial deaths and guidelines for the investigation of deaths in police custody. All custodial death cases in Mumbai will henceforth be investigated by the Crime Branch, while the Crime Investigation Department (CID) will investigate these cases elsewhere in the state.

The new rules require a post-mortem to be conducted by a panel of at least three expert doctors. The inquest must be audio-visually recorded, while biological and chemical samples must be preserved for forensic examination, according to the new SOP.

It also requires the officer in charge of the police station concerned to secure the custody area and scene of oc...