Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court expressed concern over the violence, torture and deaths in custody. The court made this observation on Thursday while denying bail to a policeman booked for custodial death of a man in 1997.
Rejecting the bail application of the policeman Sher Ali, Justice Samit Gopal observed, "Custodial violence, custodial torture and custodial deaths have always been a concern for civilized society. Time and again the judicial verdicts of the apex court and other courts have shown their concern and anguish in such matters."
The court also quoted the judicial verdicts of the apex court in the case of D.K. Basu Vs State of West Bengal, where the apex court, while expressing its anguish over custodial deaths, had issued guidelines for arrest in order to check such incidents.
The complainant, Sanjay Kumar Gupta alleged that on December 28, 1997 some policemen came to his house and took away his father Gorakh Nath a.k.a Om Prakash Gupta.
Later, he was informed that his father had died due to a heart attack.
The complainant alleged that his father was mercilessly assaulted due to which he died in the police station itself.
An FIR was registered against the applicant under section 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 304 (culpable homicide) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC.
Police and custodial torture
Even the Chief Justice of India CV Ramana had said that the threat to human rights and bodily integrity is "highest in police stations" and this should be an eye-opener for every single Indian citizen.
Ramana, making the remarks at the launch of a legal service mobile application at Vigyan Bhawan on Sunday, further added that even the "privileged are not spared third-degree treatment" and requested the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) to carry out “nationwide sensitisation of police officers”.
The government had told the Lok Sabha during the monsoon Parliament session that as many as 348 people died in police custody in the last three years.
It is important to note here that India is just of only five countries to have not ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture.
This raises the question of the reason why cops resort to torture. One explanation is that a understaffed and harried police force, under constant pressure from higher-ups, use such 'shortcuts'.
Statistics also reveal that errant police officers in India rarely face consequences for their actions. As per CNN, between 2005 and 2010 just 21 officers were convicted for custody deaths even as nearly 600 cases were registered.
An analysis by Indiaspend notes that from 2010 to 2019, most deaths in police custody were attributed to either illness and natural causes (40%), or to alleged suicide (29%). The data shows that while 1,004 deaths took place in police custody during this period, only four police personnel were convicted (one in 2010 and three in 2013).
