National Webinar on “Custodial Deaths and Violence” .

The webinar aimed to analyse the issue of custodial death and police impunity in depth. Mr.HenriTiphange ,Executive Director Peoples Watch, threw light on police atrocities in a passionate address with the students.The custodial death of the father-son duo in Tamil Nadu, brought to light not only the barbarian nature of the state police forces but also the shocking apathy and lack of response from the civil society. Gruesome as it may be, this incident is unfortunately neither isolated nor an exception. A report published by the National Campaign Against Torture highlighted that the NHRC recorded 1,723 custodial deaths in 2019 alone, which translates to about 5 deaths a day. Drawing from the past data, the report also showed that while in some cases the police officers had been identified and summoned by courts of law, none were ever brought to justice.

It has been pointed out that “most deaths in police custody occur primarily as a result of torture.” Various reports indicate that prisoners and convicts undergo all forms of physical, mental and sexual torture in guise of “extraction of information.” It must be noted that India does not suffer from lacunae of law, at least on paper- multiple provisions with the constitution such as Article 20, 21 and 22 guarantee safeguards to arrested individuals as well as convicts. However, there is a general apathy and disdain showcased towards those who are incarcerated. The arbitrary power in hands of the police and brutal way it has been manifested through the years questions the very essence of the justice system in India.

Despite the large number of cases, the government of India has made no attempts to acknowledge or punish the crimes of custodial death and violence. As has been made clear by the government, it does not intend to ratify the UN Convention Against Torture nor does it intend to enact the draft legislation ‘Prevention of Torture Bill of 2017,’ submitted by the Law Commission of India. In his address the speaker emphasized on how the indifferent attitude of the government further propagates theculture of police impunity, which has been prevalent since eons.