Dear Friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), a human rights organisation based in Uttar Pradesh state, India.
Asian Human Rights Commission
Hong Kong
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A Press Release from the PVCHR forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
INDIA: No to torture, establish rule of law!
The first Prime Minister of India Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru said “Police is standing on a quadrilateral from where they can protect and also violate human rights?” But it seems that his words are of no use in India today since there is an enormous increase in the incidents of police torture during past few decades.
It is apparent that police is the largest agency constituted with the purpose of establishing the rule of law and human rights. One can read into the Indian Penal Code, with certain difficulty, the prohibition against torture. Statements recorded from witnesses under Section 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code are not blindly admissible in a criminal trial. If the law is so, the next obvious question is then why do the police resort to torture?
The main reasons are feudal and colonial structure of police, scarcity of resources in the police department, political intervention and the lack of an independent agency to investigate the crimes committed by the police themselves. Modern investigation is unheard of within the police department. In addition, India’s feudal society condones the use of torture.
The definition of torture as envisaged in the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment defines torture as an “act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”
Section 176 (A) of Cr.P.C. have provisions for the investigation in the each case of custodial death. However, this section is not used in any case in the entire Uttar Pradesh state. Neither have any Magistrates issued search warrants under Section 97 of Cr.P.C. when persons were taken into illegal custody.
The Supreme Court of India had issued guidelines to be followed by law-enforcement officers at the time of arrest and questioning in the case D.K Basu vs. West Bengal. It is mandatory for the law-enforcement agencies to follow, but is been negated in the state. Regarding encounter killings, the National Human Rights Commission has directed the country’s police to register cases in every case of reported encounter killings. The Commission has also directed to send it a video of the post-mortem examination in each case of custodial death. This also is not followed in the state and to the information of the PVCHR anywhere in the country. The question than is what is the value of the Supreme Court and the NHRC in the country?
There is a provision for interim relief to be awarded as compensation under Section 19 of Human Right Act. Article 21 of Indian Constitution guarantees the right to life with dignity, which is also against torture. But torture continues unabated in the state. Do laws in the country have any meaning then?
If we look at the statistics, it is mostly the poor, the marginalised, the Dalits and the members of the minority and backward communities are subjected to torture. Those who have mafia gangs and known antisocial elements are not victims of this, cruel practice other than some rare occasions. Only the ordinary people are afraid of the police and the torture they practice. So does India have two types of citizens — the one with rights and those who do not have them?
Police along with the criminals have established the rule of the lords. Corruption and discrimination are no more mere practices, but the second nature of the police. Rule of law can be established without preventing police torture. Let us come together to enlighten ourselves and fight against torture to stop it and thus establish rule of law.
What you can do?
1) Protest on 26th June against the practice of torture by street plays, organising discussions and sending letters to the Prime Minister, and through press releases in newspapers condemning torture and inform us what you did;
2) Indian Government has signed the UN Convention in 1997 but has failed to ratify it. Send letters to the Prime Minister and the President of India asking them to require the government to accede the convention;
3) In protest of the cases of torture happening right under the nose of the National Human Rights Commission, organise a protest in front of the Commission;
4) Write letters to the editor of publications condemning torture;
5) To sensitize the people about torture and its forms, take down cases that you come across and send it to us so that we could follow it up on your behalf;
6) Write to the Supreme Court asking why its orders and guidelines are not followed;
7) Write to the government urging the government to provide resources to the police to function properly.
Thank you
Dr. Lenin Raghuvanshi
Convener – PVCHR
SA 4/2 A, Daulatpur
221002Varanasi
INDIA
Telephone: +91-9935599333
E-mail: pvchr.india@gmail.com
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