A. Harsha & S.Rahul Aaditya, Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, School of Excellence in Law
Abstract
The Indian Constitution provides the right to life and personal liberty, custodial deaths are result of violation of these fundamental human rights. Prisons in India should provide fundamental human rights except those rights which are to be omitted as mandated by law. But it is not followed in Indian prisons. India is a member of United Nations but it has not still ratified the UN convention against torture. On an average 5 custodial deaths take place in India daily which is very high. The lack of proper laws in preventing these crimes is the main reason behind this issue. Tough anti torture bill was recommended by the law commission still it has not been passed as an Act. Some legal provisions and Supreme Court judgements provide guidelines regarding this issue from time to time. National Human Rights Commission also provides certain guidelines in case of custodial deaths. But their effectiveness in reality is still a question as many of these custodial deaths were unreported and underreported and only few complaints were registered against the officials who commit the crimes. The main reason behind this is that the government instead of punishing the officers tries to protect them. In this article let us examine the custodial deaths in India and protection available to the accused and recommendations to make these provisions effective and the need of anti torture bill.
