New methods are needed to combat custodial torture
The police must change their attitude and behaviour while dealing with witnesses, suspects and criminals
Disposing a PIL filed by former law minister Ashwini Kumar, the Supreme Court recently refrained from directing the central government to frame a stand-alone law against custodial torture. This was against the backdrop of the government’s admission in court that it was seriously considering the 273rd report of the Law Commission that recommended the ratification of the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhumane and Degrading forms of Treatment (CAT). The CAT, adopted by the UN in 1984 and signed by the government in 1997, has not yet been ratified. Once ratified, it shall be imperative upon the central government to enact a special domestic law against torture.
The unfortunate image of being a brute force, inherited from the British Raj, has been stalking the Indian police for decades. In fact, it seems to have become embedded into our society, perhaps based more on perception rather than actual experience.
More than having a new and stand-alone legislation on custodial torture, the need is to hammer on the root cause of the problem and not to ponder only on the symptomatic treatment. The police require institutional changes. The Malimath Committee had recommended that an investigating officer (IO) should not investigate more than ten heinous offences in a year and investigation be separated from the law and order duties to improve its quality and avoid short-cuts methods and indulgence in torture, but the report did not get its due credit.
Its implementation needed the induction of more IOS, which will mean an extra burden on the exchequer.the use of scientific methods to facilitate investigation is yet to become a norm. The role of forensics remains secondary. Interrogation tools have not improved over time. Training, the backbone of any institution, is still considered a less privileged and loop-line posting by senior police officers. Due to public and media pressure, police often fall prey to short-cut methods of investigation. Therefore until police infrastructure is improved and departmental bottlenecks are eliminated, even a separate law against torture will not prove to be a panacea.
The police must change its attitude and behaviour while dealing with witnesses, suspects and criminals. The state must invest more in its enforcement agencies and ensure that the police lose its perpetual tag of being abusive and torturous. The prevailing discussions about reforms in criminal justice system, particularly policing, must manifest in action. Irrespective of the enactment of a new law, human rights of all must be protected, be it against the state or the police. We all know of the great American inventor and businessman Thomas Elva Edison and his repeated failures before he became successful in inventing the electric bulb. Drawing from his own life’s experiences he had remarked, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.”
Certainly, perseverance is the hallmark of successful people. A tenacious attitude