The vicious squad

Will the Supreme Court?s renewed efforts to prevent custodial torture, by issuing fresh guidelines on such cases, be heard?

Will the Supreme Court’s renewed efforts to prevent custodial torture, by issuing fresh guidelines on such cases, be heard? Or will it meet the same fate as the repeated pleas of the national and state human rights commissions have? Indians who profess to be appalled by Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo would do well to reflect on the persistence of custodial violence and torture across the country. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has repeatedly pointed to the increased number of custodial deaths taking place in the country, mainly in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and West Bengal, where the high-handedness of their police force, and their political clout, is well-known. And the figures it routinely brings out do not even take into account the many cases that go unreported every year due to fear of persecution.

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Unfortunately, the NHRC does not have the direct authority to take action and can only make recommendations for the State to improve the situation. More often than not, since they are not obligatory, these fall on deaf ears, with the result that policemen accused of maltreatment rarely face criminal charges, let alone any form of punishment. For a nation that has refused to ratify the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment on the grounds that our domestic laws are enough of an impediment, this has turned out to be a bad joke. The tendency of the police to take recourse to custodial violence actually inhibits the use of forensic procedures in investigation, thus enabling the guilty to often walk free because they almost always claim that their confessions were obtained through torture.