Ranchi, Sept. 6 -- Jharkhand High Court (HC) has asked the government to file an affidavit giving details of custodial deaths in the state in last seven years. An HC advocate aware of the matter said the order was given on a PIL filed by advocate Mohd Shadab Ansari. "The direction came three days ago from the division bench of Chief Justice Tarlok Singh and Justice Rajesh Shankar. Next hearing in the matter is on September 25," the advocate said. Ansari confirmed the fact and said,"The HC has asked the home secretary to file a personal affidavit in the matter mentioning the number of custodial deaths since 2018. The court has also directed to mention whether the magistrates concerned were asked to probe the deaths," he said. Ansari said the PIL was filed by Mumtaz Ansari after it was observed that the state did not conduct judicial inquiry into the matter of a custodial death. "Judicial probe is mandatory according to Section 196(2) of BNSS but it was observed that the administration covered up such a case after an inquiry of the executive magistrate and SDO. Thus the PIL was filed," advocate Ansari said. Ansari said the government had also accepted a large number of custodial deaths. "In a matter raised by CPI(ML) MLA Vinod Singh in 2021, the government admitted in Assembly that 166 custodial deaths had taken place from 2018 to 2021. Thus it has become necessary to find out the reason behind the same and put a check on such incidents," he said....