# MP High Court: Magistrate can name custodial death perpetrators 2026-08-07T23:46:54+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet The Madhya Pradesh High Court has ruled that a judicial magistrate probing a custodial death can name persons responsible and direct an FIR. Justice Jai Kumar Pillai held that Section 176(1-A) of the CrPC gives magistrates wider powers than merely determining the cause of death, citing the absence of the phrase "inquiry into the cause of death" in the sub-section. The ruling came in petitions by Dhar jail superintendent Raja Ram Dangi and doctors who performed the autopsy on prisoner Bheru, who died in February 2023 after an alleged beating. The magistrate's inquiry named jail personnel and found evidence of destruction of autopsy records. The court dismissed both petitions and directed impartial investigation. ## Coverage - freepressjournal.in - livelaw.in Tags: Bheru case, CrPC Section 176, custodial death, jail accountability, judicial inquiry, Madhya Pradesh High Court Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/mp-high-court-magistrate-can-name-custodial-death-culprits/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/mp-high-court-magistrate-can-name-custodial-death-culprits/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.