chronicle-of-custodial-deaths-foretold

There is always a sense of deja vu associated with custodial deaths that occur with depressing regularity in India. The patterns are disturbingly familiar. So are the responses that follow: a ritualistic probe and an announcement of ex-gratia. It is then back to business as usual and deaths are soon reduced to cold statistics meant for record books. The fact that not a single conviction was handed out in over 300 judicial inquiries into the cases of custodial deaths between 2017 and 2022 highlights the grim irony.

 

Between 2010-11 and 2021-22, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) registered an average of over 1,700 custodial death related cases a year, yet meaningful punitive action remains the exception rather than the rule.

 

Vijayawada case

 

The recent death of a 25 year old man in police custody in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada came as a grim reminder of the systemic flaws in the criminal justice system. The custodial death, which evoked widespread public outrage, has once again brought into focus how the inherent brutality and immunity from accountability have come to define the policing system in the country.

 

For weeks, the Vijayawada tragedy was treated as a case of mysterious disappearance with the local police remaining unhelpful. It was only after the mother of the victim, Gade Sai Krishna, moved the high court seeking his whereabouts and the public pressure started mounting that the government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to ferret out facts. The probe concluded that the victim died following physical torture in police custody.  

 

Insensitive system

 

This is a classic case of an insensitive system perpetrating extra-judicial killings and covering them up using official machinery. The SIT team has found that the CCTV footage at the Krishnalanka police station, where the victim was locked up and subjected to torture, was deleted for the whole month from May 1. It is clear that an attempt was made to destroy the evidence. The victim’s body is yet to be traced. There are allegations that the Circle Inspector of the police station, SSVV Nagaraju, who has since been arrested and sent to jail, may have disposed of the body.    

 

Sai Krishna, a small-time rowdy sheeter facing some petty cases, was picked up from his home in Markapuram on May 5 and taken to the Krishnalanka police station the following day. His family alleges he was beaten to death in custody and the body was subsequently disposed of.

 

Need for standalone law

 

There is a need for a standalone law that defines and criminalises custodial torture. Unfortunately, India doesn’t have one. There is no statutory definition for torture nor are the penalties and compensation specified. At international, India had signed the UN Convention Against Torture in 1997 but has still not ratified it, largely because ratification would require domestic legislation that has not fructified so far. The Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010—passed by the Lok Sabha but could not be taken up by the Rajya Sabha—remains the only legislative attempt at this, and it lapsed. The Law Commission's 273rd Report drafted a fresh bill in 2017 and urged the Parliament to act, but nothing has been enacted.

 

Police reforms brook no delay

 

Over the years, several expert committees have been set up and a galore of recommendations made on the need to change the functioning of the police force in tune with changing times. However, the issue of police reforms has largely remained on paper.

 

In a first comprehensive review, the National Police Commission (1977–81) had recommended that judicial inquiry be made mandatory in any custodial death, custodial rape, or police-firing death, among broader structural recommendations.

 

Also read: Congress misses ‘the Captain’ after 25 years

 

In 1998, the Ribeiro Committee recommended Police Performance and Accountability Commissions and District Complaints Authorities. The Padmanabhaiah Committee made over 240 recommendations, including a mandatory judicial inquiry into every custodial death or rape, a District Police Complaints Authority, and a permanent National Commission for Policing Standards. The Soli Sorabjee Committee had drafted the Model Police Act in 2006, replacing the colonial Police Act of 1861 with a framework explicitly meant to make police ‘efficient, effective, people-friendly, and responsive’.  Only 17 states have enacted new Police Acts since then, and most deviate substantially from the Model Act's spirit.

 

No excuse for lock-up deaths

 

There is no excuse for custodial deaths and torture and abrogation of basic legal rights of those arrested. While the policemen involved should get swift punishment, the solution must go beyond it and involve a systemic overhaul of the police.

 

A police force that acts in an extra-legal fashion and poses a threat to the life and security of citizens is a threat to democracy and the rule of law.

The Indian police system is governed by a law enacted in 1860 and multiple commissions since 1971 have recommended a string of reforms but not many of them have been acted on.

 

If India has to survive as a robust, rule-based nation, it needs to implement police reforms. Way back in 2006, the Supreme Court had issued a set of directives for police reforms but their implementation across the country leaves much to be desired.

 

The important directive among them was the constitution of Police Complaints Authorities (PCAs) at the State and district levels to receive and inquire into people’s complaints of police misconduct on issues ranging from custodial rapes and deaths, corruption and illegal arrests.

 

These entities must serve as independent and proactive police oversight bodies with support from the civil society in order to make an impact on police accountability.

 

There is also a need to separate the investigation and law and order wings to ensure speedier probes, better expertise and improved rapport with the people. More importantly, political interference in the police functioning must end. The police require the confidence, cooperation and support of the community to prevent crime and disorder.

 

The Second Administrative Reforms Commission had noted that the police-public relationship has been unsatisfactory because people largely view the police as corrupt, inefficient, partisan and unresponsive. One way of addressing this challenge is through the community policing model. Community policing requires the police to work with the community for prevention of crime and maintenance of public order.