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In India, a total of 1,731 people died in custody during 2019. This works out to almost five such deaths daily, according to a report by a rights group released on Friday.
The Indian police have continued to torcher suspects in custody due to the deficiency of iron-clad anti-torcher laws.
Torture methods used in 2019 included hammering iron nails in the body (Gufran Alam and Taslim Ansari of Bihar), applying roller on legs and burning (Rizwan Asad Pandit of Jammu and Kashmir), ‘falanga’ wherein the soles of the feet are beaten (Rajkumar of Kerala), stretching legs apart in the opposite side (Rajkumar of Kerala), and hitting in private parts (Brijpal Maurya and Lina Narjinari of Haryana),” said NCAT director Paritosh Chakma.
The recent custodial deaths of Jayaraj and Bennix at the Shantakulam Police Station in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin district has opened a lot of eyes and shed light on the lack of apt anti-torcher laws in India.
This incident has opened up a debate on the use of third-degree methods by the Police to attain confessions and statements from the suspects.
On 13 October 2019, a security guard, Pradeep Tomar, rushed to the Pilkhua police station in Hapur district in Uttar Pradesh with his 10-year-old son. He had been called to be interrogated on a murder case. The son later said his father has been brutally tortured for hours by police officers in front of him. He was rushed into a hospital when Tomar's condition deteriorated, where he died.
In light of incidents like these, It is the need of the hour to point our fingers at the status of Indian anti-torture law, which was proposed many times by parliamentarians, and is still yet to see the light of the day.
Prevention of torture bill 2010
The Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010 seeks to provide for punishment for torture committed by government officials. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on April 26, 2010, by Mr. P. Chidambaram, the Minister for Home Affairs. The Bill was not referred to a Standing Committee. It was passed in the Lok Sabha on May
6, 2010.
Section 3 of this bill defined “torture” as
3. Whoever, being a public servant or being abetted by a public servant or with the consent or acquiescence of a public servant, intentionally does any act for the purposes to obtain from him or a third person such information or a confession which causes,—
(i) grievous hurt to any person; or
(ii) danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of any person, is said to inflict torture:
Provided that nothing contained in this section shall apply to any pain, hurt, or danger as aforementioned caused by any act, which is inflicted following any procedure established by law or justified by law.
Even though the bill was passed in Lok sabha it did not get past Rajya sabha. It was referred to a select committee of Rajya Sabha, which has recommended many amendments. But soon it lapsed as Lok sabha got dissolved.
Writ petition and Law commission report
A Writ Petition was filed by former Law minister Dr. Ashwini Kumar in light of the revelation by Delhi University Professor G.N Saibaba through an interview published by The Hindu on 08.04.2016 regarding the trauma he faced while in custody.
The writ petition was filed before the supreme court praying “ensuring an effective and purposeful legislative framework/ laws and its enforcement to fulfill the constitutional promise of human dignity and prevention of custodial torture”
On 27.11.2017, based on Attorney General Shri K.K Venugopal's statement, the Supreme Court disposed of the writ petition. Stating that the prayer made in the writ petition was the subject of discussion in the Law Commission which had already made some recommendations and that the report was seriously considered by the Government.
In its 273rd Report the Law Commission headed by Justice (Rtd) B.S Chauhan recommended the enforcement of the torture convention through a new bill
Namely 'Torture Prevention Bill, 2017' The Law Commission recommended:
“While deciding on as to what amounts to torture by a public servant, the Commission has suggested definition of 'torture' wide enough to include inflicting injury, either intentionally or involuntarily, or even an attempt to cause such an injury, which will include physical, mental or psychological injury”
However, the Central Government did not implement the recommendations by introducing the aforementioned amendments and the new legislation in Parliament. Dr. Ashwini Kumar, the petitioner in the writ petition, applied (MA No. 2560 of 2018 in WP(C) No. 738 of 2016) before the Supreme Court with a prayer to implement the Law Commission recommendations which were dismissed by the Supreme Court on 05.09.2019 by a bench comprising of then Chief Justice Of India Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Sanjiv Khanna. The Supreme Court rejected the prayer for the issuance of a direction to the Centre to enact a stand-alone law against custodial torture by holding that the Court cannot direct the Parliament to enact laws.
Current Status of Anti Torture Bill
India's anti-torture bill has now been in a coma for nearly 10 years. The Central Government, via the Attorney General, told on 22.01.2019 that the draft of Prevention of Torture Bill, 2017, had been sent to all States for their feedback and comments and that only eight States / UTs had replied as at that date. Even after considerable time has elapsed from the date of the Law Commission report, the Prevention of Torture Bill, 2017 has not even been introduced in the parliament.
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