Ranchi: Jharkhand high court on Thursday rapped the state for not following the statutory mandate of probing custodial deaths only by judicial magistrates.A division of chief Justice M S Sonak and Justice Rajesh Shankar were hearing a public investigation filed by Md Mumtaz Ansari on the number of custodial deaths in the state since 2018, which have not been inquired into properly.The court in its 33-page judgement delivered on Thursday directed the principal district judges of the districts concerned and the home secretary to inquire into such matters of deaths not probed by a judicial magistrate, and instead done by executive magistrates.The principal district judge will then appoint a judicial magistrate and conduct a probe within six months.The state govt had earlier informed the court by filing an affidavit that there have been 427 custodial deaths in the state since 2018. The govt itself stated that only 225 inquiries have been done by judicial magistrate while 262 by executive magistrate.The court observed the error in the number of deaths cited by the govt. “The discrepancy in the numbers of deaths provided by the state speaks of it, systemic disregard and to the law and cast a serious doubt on the state velocity and diligence in maintaining records,” the HC observed.