NEW DELHI: Amnesty International has listed 36 deaths in police “Custody due to torture and medical neglect in 1993 in India with Delhi “topping with an alarming figure of 10.

In its latest report on deaths in custody in India, the London-based organization said although official repeatedly   condemned custodial violence, reports suggested that torture remained a pervasive and daily routine in every State.

Seeking mandatory judicial inquiry into custodial deaths, the report said in India there was a “lack of prompt redress in cases Where the right to life and the right not be torturing are violated.”

In most of the cases of custodial deaths resulting from torture or medical neglect by the police or other officials listed in the report, there had been no decisive action to investigate the allegations promptly and properly to bring the perpetrators to justice, it said.

 Of the 36 cases listed in the report, which did not include the deaths reported from Janmmu and Kashmir, magisterial inquiries Wore reported to have been ordered in no more than 12 cases.

“Moreover, such inquiries are usually carried out by an executive magistrate and nor by independent judicial officials,” it Said, adding an inquiry by the Criminal investigation department was ordered in One further case, a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry in another and one criminal investigation agency inquiry in another.

On the setting up the National “Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Amnesty International said its powers were limited be- Cause of the luck of own investigation machinery.

They had to rely on investigative staff provided by the central of slate government who operated under the supervision of the Detector General of Police, it said adding the commission’s powers to investigate alleged human rights violations by the Army and part- Military forces were also limited.

 The report further said that the commission’s mandate was limited to asking for a report from the central government on the allegations and there was no obligation on the part of the government to proceed with or publish any recommendations which the commission might make.

Article extracted from this publication >> July 29, 1994