CUSTODIAL VIOLENCE AND ITS IMPACT TO THE SOCIETY

Published on 23rd January 2025

Authored By: Muskan
Amity University, Lucknow

Abstract

Police are said to be guarding agents to help society and the wrong should not happen to anyone any violence breaks the rules and regulations of the country. They must protect the country’s citizens and help those in need.  The police officer must find evidence against the accused to prove the allegations against the accused within twenty-four hours according to law the accused must be presented in court in front of the magistrate. In the current scenario, police officers have so much pressure to solve the case inquiry or maybe they don’t understand the real meaning of their job they try to misuse their power while making the accused give false confessions by applying the third-degree on the accused which is not normal in small cases. They are misusing their power to give justice, justice happens on paper, and trying to close the case. It is happening in countries nowadays very much where the death of the accused happens while in custody. According to the report of the National Crime Records Bureau,[1] Gujrat has the highest no of custodial deaths in 2022 and Uttar Pradesh has also the highest no of deaths in 2021 – 2022 other states with high ratios are Assam Bihar, and Rajasthan. Here, the right to Live with dignity has been curtailed. A lot of cases are there to prove the injustice happening with individuals in custody until the evidence proves the person for committing a crime will be assumed innocent.

Introduction

Custodial death refers to the death of the person detained during pre-trial or after conviction, caused by the direct or indirect act of police in the custody. Custody means keeping an individual in protective care based on the apprehension that he or she may cause harm to society. Until the conviction is proved the is presumed to be innocent. The justice system is an organism and an organism means a form of life composed of mutually dependent parts that maintain various vital processes. The criminal justice system,  today consists of many mutually dependent parts, sub-systems, and the police, a sub-system is one of them that investigates crimes and detects criminals.

 If there is good governance the country will be ruling human beings will feel secure and development will be enhanced custodial death is not a new issue it is a very old issue that is maintaining its rule in different modes It is the major issue that affects our human rights one of the root obstacles to democracy and the development of human well-being in the contemporary world. Mostly it happens with those who are poor underprivileged and to those whose voice is not listened to by society. It makes the person voiceless and powerless. We can also say poverty is the result of poor economy and poor governance[2].

Objective

In a democratic society, the police are there to protect or to serve the people rather than to restrain their freedom or dominate them the very first purpose of the police is to provide a safe, orderly environment in which these freedoms can be exercised. The duty of police is to preserve and protect the nation from crime being committed but we need to remember that in today’s scenario and from the data from the previous 5 years the growth in custodial violence has increased in a larger ratio. There are case studies that prove the happening of custodial violence and how the police are misusing their power. Regrettably, our police and Prisons share the blame for being less regardful to the limits of power in them.  The torture that happens with the accused in custody affects him mentally physically and sexually and has a long effect on them. It affects the social functioning of the person and also affects his family.

Law enforcement agencies have practiced this on prisoners, criminals, and wrongdoers. A large number of cases and incidents of custodial violence remain. A large number of cases and incidents of custodial violence keep coming to light now. Custodial violence [3]can be committed in various forms including any harassment which causes mental or physical suffering, by word of mouth, making a person sit at the police station for long hours without any reason, using third-degree methods, stripping, molestation, rape, death, etc. Hence it is clear that custodial violence in India deserves an appraisal. Although there are a number of crimes committed in India. 

Custodial violence can be classified into three forms:-

1] Physical torture – Methods of physical torture include punching, slapping, beating, forced body positions, stretching limbs, suspension, constraint of movement, burning with cigarettes and caustic substance, cutting with sharp instruments, electric shocks, mutilating body parts, chemical exposures in wounds, dental torture and starvation.

2] Psychological torture – A person is put through mental torture by threatening to harm or kill the victim or his relatives or friends, forcing him to hear or witness others being tortured, forcing him to harm others, violating religious beliefs, and humiliating.

3] Sexual torture – Custodial rape is another kind of torture faced by victims. Custodial rape can be defined as rape perpetrated in state-owned institutions like prisons or jails by a person in charge of such institution. Other forms of sexual torture include sexual harassment, forced impregnation, and virginity testing.

Causes of custodial violence

1] Work stress

 Police authorities have so much pressure to solve every case in less time than they have to handle it. In our justice system, it is presumed that a person in custody is said to be innocent until the person’s conviction is proven. to prove an accused to be guilty is not easy work you need a lot of information against the accused regarding this and you have to do it within 24 hours[4].

2]punitive action

Some police officers think until the person is given the punishment he will try to commit the offense or punishing the accused with a third will set an example for others to not commit the crime again more crimes. They say prisons no longer have a deterrent effect on criminals as they remain happy there. The prison officials believe in the efficacy of third-degree treatments while dealing with criminals particularly those who have committed serious crimes such as murders and rapes and they think they deserve the Torture.

3] Inadequate training

The police officers have not completed their training well and do not understand the real duty of police officers it provide justice to innocent and prevents people from not committing any offence. They have to follow the route of rules and laws. Police officials lack proper training such as knowledge of the application of scientific methods in Crime Investigation[5] and interrogation of the accused due to which the police end up using violence against the accused.

4] Lack of supervision

The higher super authority in the police needs to look after the duties and work of the juniors whether they are doing things right or not if not it is their duty to look after the pass in order to stop it and enforce punishment on them

5]Greed for money

Not everyone but there is a large ratio of police officers who used to take bribes just to disclose the close and put the voice down of the accused or the person with whom the wrong has happened under the false confession.

Laws related to custodial violence

1] article 20[1] of the constitution says that no person shall be convicted of any offence except for the violation of law in force at the time of the commission of the offence. No person shall get the penalty or the punishment more than what is required.

2]article 20[2] of the constitution says that no person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once.

3]article 20[3] of the constitution says that no person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself. This stops the authorities from coercing the accused to provide evidence.

4]article 21 of the constitution says that no person can be deprived of life and liberty except according to the procedure established by law and also guarantees to safeguard against any form of torture, assault, or injury.

5]Article 22 of the constitution is there to ensure certain checks exist in law to prevent abuse of power by authorities.

Article 22[1] says that no person shall be arrested without being informed about the grounds of arrest and should not be denied access to a lawyer. Article 22[2] provides that every individual who is arrested has to be presented before the magistrate within 24 hours of such arrest excluding the time taken for the journey from the police station to court in front of the judge.

It is said ‘no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law’ The expression personal liberty is not limited to bodily restraint or to confinement to prison only as has been illustrated by Hon’ble Supreme Court in Kharak Singh v state of U.P[6].

Section 43 of The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS):

How the person is arrested?

  • at the time of the arrest by the police officer or any other person who is making the arrest shall have touch or confine the body of the person to be arrested unless the submission of custody in words or throw action, if the woman have to arrest the circumstances will be different her submission to custody on oral intimidation of arrest shall be presumed and unless the police officer is female the police officer should not touch the woman for making her arrest.

2[ If any such person is forcibly arrested or attempts to evade the arrest, such police officers have to take all necessary action required for arrest.

3]the police need to put in mind and take the action required according to the intensity of the crime need to handcuff while arresting the person who has been arrested for the offense of organized crime rape murder acid attack human trafficking sexual offences including acts that endangering sovereignty of the nation

4]nothing gives you the right to cause the death of a person who is not accused and has not committed an offence punishable with death.

5] No woman should be arrested after sunset or before sunrise in exceptional cases the women police officer should be there to arrest the woman accused by making a report and asking for permission from the first-class judicial magistrate.

Report of National Human Rights Commission

 There were almost 669 cases of death in police custody allover the country in last five years from April to march .The NHRC cited the data which mention that almost there were 175 cases of death in police custody which were reported during 2021-2022  and 100 cases were reported in 2020-2021and 112 cases were reported in 2019-2021 and 136 cases in 2018 -2019 lastly146 cases reported in 2017 -2018

Cases related to custodial violence

1Rudal Sah’s vs state of Bihar[7]

 In this case the accused was locked in jail for almost 14 years with charges. Rudul Sah’s, so real began in 1968 at session court in Bihar Despite this he was in prison and his plea was unnoticed until the moment he filed the writ petition under Article 32 of the constitution THE Supreme Court gave the final judgment in 1983 with a better decision emphasizing the right to life and liberty. In this case supreme court ahs held the SC under article 32 can grant compensation for the deprivation of personal liberty and court may enforce money.

2]DK Basu v State of West Bengal [8]

In this case, which was started in 1997 it established guidelines to prevent custodial violence and protect Human Rights.

1]Police officers must be trained properly to arrest and treat individuals in custody.

2]They have to wear visible identification identity and name tags.

3] A record of arrest should be prepared at the time of arrest and it should signed by the witness.

4[ State will be responsible for custodial violence by public servants on accused.

5] Interrogation must be conducted using scientific and humanitarian grounds and third-degree should be prohibited.

6]Reports should be maintained and action must be taken against police officers who violate the guidelines.

Case Studies

 1]Krishna Yadav of Jaunpur On 11 February 2021   police detained him in a case of robbery of 1.5 lakh which was a false case against him police asked his family if they wanted to release their son and had to give m, money to us, It was a violation of human rights.

2]Ziauddin Khan resident of Azamgarh died in police custody on March 25, 2021.

The prevention of Custodial Violence bill has also come in 2023.

Steps to be taken after custodial violence

1]Filling of FIR against the accused officials

2]Making a private criminal complaint to the magistrate

3]Complaint to NHRC or SHRC[9] .

4] There should be separate rooms with CCTV cameras installed there.

5] The condition of the prison should not deteriorate as it comes under human rights protection.

Ways to stop custodial violence

1]By looking after strict following of human rights laws, rules, and regulations including the prevention of any kind of torture and cruel behavior.

2] An important and effective training program for all the law officials on how to implement the laws on the person and apply the force

3]By properly establishing the investigation into all custodial deaths so that no impartiality could happen.

4] There is the bill that came in 2023 the Prevention of Torture Bill which criminalizes custodial torture any death in custody and sexual violence so it provides a legal framework that compensates the person and the family with whom the violence has happened

Conclusion

The police officer is a protective home protective arm of the state that is seen more as a feared adversary than an ally in helping victims of crime.

It is truly to sad state of affairs to see how police brutality has been normalised in India and the lack of any political will to introduce reforms only fuels the existing pit of oppressive behaviour at the hands of police. we have to fight strongly against the arms of the state for our protection and we need protection from them because they are misusing their power that harm other individuals in the state Mostly the poor are been neglected the police officers target those who are underprivileged and uneducated, police officials know that they don’t know the procedure and their voice will not be listened by anyone. People used to have knowledge about their human rights and laws and could raise voices for it. The police use force on individuals and do not register their FIR for investigation and try to solve the case by giving bribes and some use to come in their tactics It is assumed that police officers should have basic moral dignity to help the oppressed person who need help to fight for justice and the police officers are the route of getting that justice.

 

References

[1] According to NHRC there highest no of cases in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujrat.

[2] The state poor people are being affected the most

[3] Custodial violence violates the human rights of the accused

[4] Accused have to be presented in court within 24 hours in front of the magistrate.

[5] Investigation need to be done without any favorism and misuse  of any power .

[6] [ 1964] 1 SCR 332

[7] [1983] 4 SCC 141

[8] JCLJ [2021] 619

[9] State Human Rights Commisssion

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