Bhubaneswar, Nov. 26 -- Orissa High Court has directed the State government to pay Rs 20 lakh compensation to a widow whose husband died in jail due to a lack of proper treatment by the prison authorities.
Holding the State responsible for the latches and negligence, the Single Bench Justice Biraja Prasanna Satapathy directed the State's Home Secretary to release the compensation amount in favour of the petitioner within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of this order.
"'Right to life' includes the right to live in any civilized society. It implies the right to food, water, a decent environment, education, medical care, and shelter," Justice Satapathy, quoting the Supreme Court observation, stated in an order pronounced on Tu...