Torture
In Custody
By ACHR
24 June, 2004
Asian Centre For Human Rights
On
26 June 2004 as the world speaks up against the unspeakable and
for those who have endured the unimaginable on the United Nations International
Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the sanction of torture in Guantanamo
Bay and Abu Ghraib prisons by the highest authorities of the United
States has brought the scourge of torture to the fore. Across the world,
the authorities provide covert and overt sanction of torture in the
name of security, especially in armed conflict situations or while suppressing
political dissents.
Torture is not confined
to armed conflict situations. Torture has been a part of administration
of justice in India since colonial times. Police use torture to extract
confessions, for extortions or just to settle personal disputes. Torture
has been variously described - as a cancer, as a sub-culture
in India but each of these allegories is outstripped by the bare evidence.
The Annual Reports of the National Human Rights Commission of India
are instructive. According to NHRC' Annual Reports, it received complaints
of 34 custodial deaths in 1993-94; 635 custodial deaths/custodial rapes
in 1994-95, 444 custodial deaths in 1995-96, 888 custodial deaths in
1996-97, 1012 custodial deaths in 1997-98 and 1297 custodial deaths
in 1998-99, 1093 custodial death and rape in 1999-2000 and 1305 custodial
deaths in 2000-2001. These custodial deaths are in addition to disappearances,
illegal detention and other police excesses and violations by armed
forces where innocent people, accused or suspects are subjected to torture
but not necessarily killed.
Torture in Punjab
The Punjab Police
and the para military forces were notoriously famous for torture, executions
and disappearances during the insurgency in the State from 1985 to 1995.
Torture was rampant and thousands of people have disappeared. Although
insurgency virtually ended in 1995, torture remains endemic in Punjab.
A few selected case studies during 2003 testify the use of torture in
Punjab which does not face any insurgency at present.
On 11 January 2003,
Makhan Singh, an alleged narcotics smuggler was produced before the
Court in Ludhiana. He could barely walk and broke down before the judge.
When he showed the injuries he had suffered due to the police torture,
every one was reportedly stunned. The judge ordered an immediate medical
examination that confirmed torture. The Station House Officer (SHO)
was merely transferred to police lines.
On 11 February 2003,
Sanjiv Kumar, Vippan Kumar and Roshan Lal were picked up by Inspector
Balkar Singh and two constables of Sadar police station of Chandigarh.
They had reportedly protested against some Jalandhar police officials
who had allegedly kidnapped two children from outside a marriage palace
and tortured one of them to death in the first week of January 2003.
They were tied upside down and beaten up with iron rods and sticks till
they lost consciousness. Once they regained consciousness, they were
subjected to same brutal torture. The victims were admitted in the Government
Hospital in Chandigarh in the night of 12 February 2003 in critical
conditions. On 13 February 2003, the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued
a notice to the State of Punjab on the issue.
On 18 March 2003,
a truck driver Bhupinder Singh of Phase I Sas Nagar, Mohali was tortured
to death by the police of the Police Station at Phase I. The police
took his truck and kept with them for over five days. The police also
deflated the tyres of the truck. But when the police realised that Bhupinder
Singh had died, they shifted the truck back to the Unions parking
area. The police then claimed that he committed suicide as a result
of family problems! The punishment given to SHO, Mr Rajinder Singh Sohal,
was mere transfer to Ropar as the In-Charge of the anti-fraud staff.
On 15 April 2003,
SHO Bhupinder Singh and constable Ajit Singh of Nangal police station
beat up 82 years old, Raja Ram and his 80 years old wife, Parkasho Devi
of Bass village. The policemen reportedly came to their house searching
for their son Vijay Kumar. The policemen kept trashing them even when
the victims stated that Vijay Kumar did not stay with them, as they
had disowned him. The policemen also ransacked household goods and took
away their gas cylinder, television set and clothes.
On 3 May 2003, Surinder
Jindal, a physically challenged person, was allegedly picked up from
his house in Phase VII, Sas Nagar. During his illegal confinement in
the police station, he was tortured including application of electric
shocks, following which he was suffering from muscular dystrophy. Jindal
was released on 9 May 2003 following direction from the Punjab and Haryana
High Court.
On 7 June 2003,
Mukesh of Mauli Jagran was allegedly beaten up by cops at the Mauli
Jagran police post, Chandigarh. He was admitted in the Government Medical
College and Hospital, Chandigarh and later referred to the Neurosurgery
Department at the Post Graduate Institute Chandigarh, where he vomited
blood because of the torture.
On 12 July 2003,
one Suresh Kumar of Bharatpur Ding of Rajasthan was allegedly arrested
with 500 gm of opium by the Lambi police from near by Tarajwala village
under Muktsar district of Punjab. He was remanded to a days police
custody by the court of Judicial Magistrate, Gidderbaha. He died after
being subjected to third degree torture at Lambi police station. The
Lambi police claimed that the accused died after consuming a poisonous
substance. But police had no reply as to how did the victim get the
poisonous substance inside the police custody.
On 17 August 2003,
Anil Kumar and Uday Kant of Sunder Nagar locality of Ludhiana were arrested
by the police of Sunder Nagar Police station on suspicion of a burglary
in the locality. They were brutally tortured and admitted in the Civil
Hospital, Ludhiana. The medical examination reportedly confirmed that
they sustained injuries of torture.
On 25 September
2003, five persons namely Karamjit Kaur, Tirath Kaur, Sahib Singh, Gurdev
Singh and Gurmit Singh were rescued from the clutches of Punjab Police
by the Warrant Officer of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The police
had reportedly arrested them on suspicion of having involvement in a
murder Case. They were allegedly subjected to inhuman treatment by the
police for several days in custody. Showing torture marks on her body
before scribes in Chandigarh on 26 September 2003, 20-year-old Karamjit
Kaur alleged that she was detained at Nabha police station for several
days and been tortured. She was ordered to remove her clothes by police
constables. Drunken police constables usually interrogated her in the
midnight. Even if a woman constable was called most of the time she
stayed outside the room during her interrogation. She alleged that she
was subjected to inhuman third degree torture twice by pulling her legs
apart in 180 degree and also beaten up with an iron rod in between her
legs and two policemen putting pressure on that rod.
On 10 November 2003,
a 14 year old Dalit boy Sanjeev Kumar Singh was handed over to the Julkan
Police Station in Patiala for interrogation in a case of stealing a
box of sweets and two suit pieces. He was detained for one day and was
inhumanly tortured by the police. He was later admitted at a hospital.
The boys family claimed that police personnel walked on his body
and forcibly parted his legs to inflict injuries.
Torture and Impunity
The government of
India legitimises torture by encouraging its use in the administration
of justice and by providing impunity to the law enforcement personnel.
Under Section 31
of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) of 2002, a confession made
by a person before a police officer not lower in rank than a Superintendent
of Police is admissible as evidence in the trial of such person for
an offence. This is a clear violation of Section 25 of the Indian Evidence
Act and gives "License to Torture" to extract confessions.
Under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, precursor
to the POTA, out of over 76,000 persons detained from 1985 to 1995,
less than 1% of the detainees were convicted and out of these 1% convicted,
about 80% of the conviction took place on the basis of the confessions
made by the accused. In majority of the cases, confessions were extracted
after being subjected to torture.
The police and armed
forces enjoy virtual impunity under section 197(2) of the Criminal Procedure
Code. It states "No Court shall take cognizance of any offence
alleged to have been committed by any member of the Armed Forces of
the Union while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his
official duty, except with the previous sanction of the Central Government."
Most State governments have adopted similar provisions under Section
197(3) of the CrPC. Section 6 of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act,
1958, which is applicable in most insurgency prone States, also provides
that "no prosecution, suit or other legal proceedings shall be
instituted, except with the previous sanction of the Central Government
against any person in respect of anything done or purported to be done
in exercise of powers conferred by this Act." In addition, under
Section 19 of the Human Rights Protection Act of 1993, National Human
Rights Commission cannot intervene in the allegations of human violations
by the armed forces.
It took over two
months for the Central Bureau of Investigation of the government of
India to obtain sanction from the Gujarat government on 15 June 2004
under Section 197 of Criminal Procedure Code for prosecuting six police
officers and two doctors, who were charge sheeted along with 12 others
in the Bilkis Yakub mass rape and murder case during the Gujarat carnage
of 2002. It is hard to believe that a victim of torture, especially
from internal armed conflict situations, can obtain such permissions
from the government agencies. Not surprisingly, the Government of India
has failed both to ratify the UN Convention Against Torture after its
signing in 1997 and extend invitation to the United Nations Special
Rapportuer on Torture to visit the country. The government has little
seriousness to eradicate torture.