Isolated innovations are not enough to stop cases of custodial torture
In May 2017, addressing representatives from countries at the UN’s Human Rights Council, the then Attorney General of India said, “The concept of torture is completely alien to our culture and it has no place in the governance of the nation.”
Last week in Sitamarhi district, Bihar, two families received the bodies of their two sons from the police. The two men were questioned at the Dumra police station for a case of theft and murder in the area. Instead, they came back dead. The ritual bathing revealed torture — tell-tale marks of nails hammered into their thighs and wrists.
A common story in India
Between the rhetoric of Geneva and the reality at Dumra lies the all too frequent story, in India, of police torture. We are rightly cautioned to call it ‘alleged murder’ until proven in court. But the story we come across is too common for us to suspend belief.
More than a week has passed. The motions of taking action have begun but there are clear signs of routine impunity. Top police officials in Bihar have recognised that the custodial deaths were “unacceptable”. There were some transfers and the policemen who were implicated were suspended and had a criminal case filed against them. A First Information Report has been registered. But in the first instance, the policemen who were implicated were not named. They were arrested and taken into custody but escaped, allegedly with the help of local police. They remain untraceable.
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