NEW DELHI: A prisoner dies India every other day, often under political torture, raising a hue and cry for police reforms and a more humans Law.
The number of custodial deaths rose dramatically by 490%, from 34 in 1993-94 to 53 in 1994-95. But police dismissed most by assigning reasons ranging from escape bids to ailments or simply old age, say reports For more than a century. Indian policemen have been beating out concessions from prisoners though no one would admit it. The practice still continues Delhi police had the ignominious first of recording 34 custodial deaths topping the offenders List West Bengal was the next on the list with 20 cases, while Assam and Bihar reported 14 deaths each.
A senior police official of the Delhi police says “most often the police in its eagerness to elicit information from the arrested persons in connection with a crime, cross the limits, resulting in the death.”
Echoing human rights bodies’ plea for a revision of law, former police chief of Delhi, Ved Marwal, says “the role of police, since the enacting of Police Act of 1861, has come a long way.”
“The government and sadly, even a section to believe nothing has changed since 1864 and would like to function in their old style,” adds Marwah
This is evident from the 16 custodial deaths reported from different parts of Karnataka in the last five years, of which 10 died due to multiple injuries they received while in custody.
Marwah says, “no systematic effort has been made to prepare and train them in those skills which are so different from those which an average policeman was required to have in the past.”
At present, it is up to the police to report under what circumstances the death occurred in custody, giving ample scope for cither hushing up the matter or giving an entirely different version of the death.
In state of UP vs Ram Sagar Yadav (Air 1985 SC 416), the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Y.V. Chandrachud, dealing a custodial death case had observed, “bound by ties of brotherhood they (policemen) often prefer to remain silent in such situations and when they choose to speak they put their own gloss upon facts and prevent the truth.”
The case dealt with a person, who had alleged that the police had taken bribe from him. The police, with a vengeance arrested him and later assaulted him to death in police lockup.
In this context People’s Union for Civil Rights (PUDR) has urged that the law on custodial deaths be amended to make it more effective.
“The burden of proof in case of custodial deaths should just as in the case of custodial me, shift from the Victim to the policemen concerned,” Says an activist of the PUDR.
Justice Chandrachud had almost agreed with the PUDR demand when he said, “police officers alone and none else can give evidence as regards the circumstances in which a person in their custody comes to receive injury.” in its own way police organization
Being a vast force is also a bane of “It is very difficult to give 100% guarantee when we have such a huge force. We cannot have a scheme to completely prevent it (custodial deaths).” says M.B. Kaushal, another former commissioner of Delhi police. But custodial deaths is something which cannot be justified, say most of the known jurists.
“The use of force against an individual in their custody in his loneliness and helplessness is a grossly unlawful and most degrading and deplorable practice that requires to be condemned in stringent terms,” was the comment of Dharam Veeca Commission while dealing with the report of National Police Commission
Justice Java Chandra Reddy of the Supreme Court had observed in one of the custodial death cases that “torturing a person and using third degree methods are medieval in nature and they are barberic and contrary to law. If the custodies themselves indulge in Committing crimes then no member of the society is safe and secure. It is more heinous than a game keeper coming a poacher.”
Article extracted from this publication >> April 28, 1995
