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The brutality of the killings of Jayaraj and Bennicks within the Sathankulam police station in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, is of a bit with police excessive-handedness which thrives in a damaged prison justice system. The police, accountable for these of their custody, acted in prison breach of their constitutional and statutory responsibility.
The murderous assault on the daddy-son duo occurred regardless of a robust authorized framework that protects the rights of an accused in custody. Examples are Article 21 and 22 of the Constitution of India, provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) regarding procedures of arrest and investigation, provisions of the Evidence Act regarding admissibility of proof, and Supreme Court (SC) judgments like DK Basu vs State of West Bengal and Anesh Kumar vs State of Bihar.
One necessary safeguard is the medical examination of the arrestees, detailing damage marks if any. The medical officer’s report on Jayaraj and Bennicks recorded their accidents merely as “abrasions,” though accounts counsel that each had been bleeding profusely whereas in custody.
Another essential safeguard is that the police have to provide arrestees in courtroom inside 24 hours of the arrest, for the Justice of the Peace to make sure their authorized rights usually are not violated.
The presence of a lawyer throughout arrest reduces the potential for bodily hurt and violation of the authorized rights of the arrestees. In the absence of any mechanism, this constitutional proper is often denied. For instance, when attorneys went to the Sathankulam police station to satisfy Jayaraj and Bennicks, they weren’t allowed entry.
In 2018, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)’s newest annual report recorded 70 deaths in police custody –12 had been from Tamil Nadu, the second-highest after Gujarat, with 14 deaths.
The query is: Will the outrage and a spotlight the Jayaraj and Bennicks case has garnered lastly result in accountability? Going by the previous document, it appears unlikely. There are roadblocks at every stage from the submitting of a First Information Report (FIR) in opposition to the police to their prosecution. In the Thoothukudi case, initially, two sub-inspectors, Balakrishnan and Raghu Ganesh, had been suspended, and departmental proceedings initiated in opposition to them. This is the same old response in such circumstances, however issues get difficult after this step.
As per Section 176 (1A) of CrPC, each case of custodial violence shall be investigated by a judicial Justice of the Peace. But the 2018 NCRB report exhibits that of the 70 circumstances of custodial loss of life within the 12 months, judicial enquiries had been ordered in solely 28. Charge-sheets had been filed solely in opposition to 13 police personnel –11 of them had been from Gujarat, the state with the best variety of custodial deaths. In Tamil Nadu, no police personnel had been arrested, not to mention cost-sheeted.
In the Thoothukhudi killings, whereas an enquiry by the judicial Justice of the Peace has been initiated, the Justice of the Peace, in a letter to the Madras High Court, has alleged that the police is making an attempt to intimidate them and destroy the proof. This is a mirrored image of the impunity the police enjoys. Eventually, the Madras High Court needed to intervene. As of now, the Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) of Tamil Nadu Police has taken over the case and the 5 policemen accused of torture have lastly been arrested and despatched to judicial custody.
Furthermore, the absence of direct proof in custodial loss of life circumstances is one other hurdle. The Supreme Court, within the State of MP vs Shyamsunder Trivedi judgment, noticed that the police, sure by the “ties of brotherhood”, would like to stay silent relatively than help the courtroom. To handle this concern, the regulation fee advisable twice (in its 113th & 152nd report) the insertion of Section 114-B into the Indian Evidence Act 1972, which reverses the burden of proof. Which is, if there’s proof that the damage was prompted throughout the custody, the courtroom could presume that the police officer having custody of the particular person prompted it. This advice has not but been taken up by Parliament.
Another roadblock is that circumstances go on for a very long time, and witnesses often flip hostile underneath strain. Just final week, seven policemen from Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, had been exonerated within the case of the custodial loss of life of Pradeep Tomar. His minor son, who witnessed the torture, narrated how the police used electrical shocks and stabbed him with screwdrivers. But the sufferer’s household ultimately turned hostile, contradicting their claims within the FIR. Multiple regulation fee stories have advisable a sufferer safety laws. In 2018, the SC, actually, accredited the Victim Protection Scheme in Mahendra Chawla v Union of India case. While the mechanism was lengthy overdue, the effectiveness of its implementation stays unsure, provided that the scheme hinges on the menace evaluation analysis formulated by the police.
To guarantee accountability, all related agencies–the Justice of the Peace, the bar, and the medical practitioner–must observe their mandate scrupulously. They are collectively accountable for guaranteeing the constitutional rights of an arrestee, particularly the precise in opposition to torture. Their non-compliance in procedures coupled with complacency prices lives.
Raja Bagga is senior researcher, Police Reform Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
The views expressed are private
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