Police have killed hundreds of suspects in custody between 2009-2015, alleges rights group and the police often blame the deaths on suicide or illness.
Human Rights Watch(HRW)’s “Bound by Brotherhood”, India’s Failure to End Killings in Police Custody report released in New Delhi recently, documents habitual torture of undertrials and detainees by Indian police across several states. Despite changes in laws and guidelines and the promise of police reforms since 1997, official data shows at least 591 people died in police custody between 2010 and 2015
Indian police often torture criminal suspects to punish them, to gather information, or to coerce confessions. While police blame most of the deaths on suicide, illness, or natural causes, in many such cases family members allege that the deaths were the result of torture; allegations sometimes supported by independent investigations. The entire report may be read here.
Bound by Brotherhood examines the reasons for the continuing impunity for custodial deaths in India, and recommends steps that authorities should take to end it. It details the scope of the problem drawing on in-depth Human Rights Watch investigations into 17 custodial deaths that occurred between 2009 and 2015. In most of these cases, family members, with the assistance of lawyers and activists, were able to seek new inquiries, thus providing access to witness testimonies, autopsy reports, or police statements.
In each of the 17 cases, the police did not follow proper arrest procedures—including documenting the arrest, notifying family members, or producing the suspect before a magistrate within 24 hours—which made the suspect more vulnerable to abuse and may have contributed to a belief by police that any mistreatment could be covered up. In most of the cases, investigating authorities, mainly the police, failed to take steps that could have helped ensure accountability for the deaths.
Human Rights Watch has called on the Indian government to strictly enforce existing law and guidelines on arrest and detention and ensure that police officers implicated in torture and other ill-treatment, regardless of rank, are disciplined or prosecuted as appropriate.
The New York-based rights group has urged India to implement a string of often-ignored regulations and prosecute officers involved in the alleged mistreatment of prisoners.
While torture is illegal in India, and law enforcement agencies in many countries now say it does little to elicit accurate information, many Indian police are open about their use of the “third degree” _ a term that can encompass anything from a couple slaps to a savage beating _ to extract details or confessions.
An appendix to the Report makes interesting reading:
Appendix II: Table of Right to Information Responses
| Name of Deceased | Response from RTI Filed to Police | Response from RTI Filed to National Human Rights Commission | Response from RTI Filed to State Human Rights Commission |
| Kazi Nasiruddin | The matter has been transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation headquarters in New Delhi. | Case closed because the State Human Rights Commission had taken prior cognizance. | The SHRC said it closed the case after receiving a report from the police, but said it couldn’t share the police report. |
| Obaidur Rahman | The police responded that the case is under investigation, but did not share any further information. | No response. | No RTI filed. |
| Rajib Molla | No response. | No response. | The SHRC said the case is still pending but did not share any further information. |
| Safikul Haque Uttam Mal Abdul Aziz | No response. | Case closed on January 1, 2015, after the state government submitted a compliance report and submitted proof that it had paid 300,000 rupees (US$4,530) to Haque’s wife, Sakena Bibi, as per the NHRC’s recommendation. | No RTI filed. |
| The police said that Mal did not die in police custody and he was neither detained nor arrested by any police personnel. However, they said that an investigation was underway and near completion on the basis of a complaint filed regarding his death. They did not share any details of the investigation. | No response. | No RTI filed. | |
| No response. | The NHRC said it had recommended that the Uttar Pradesh government pay a compensation of 500,000 rupees (US$7,500) to Aziz’s family, but the government refused to accept the recommendation. Following this, the NHRC closed the case on November 19, 2015, and the files were “weeded out.” | No RTI filed. | |
| Agnelo Valdaris Altaf Shaikh Appu | Asked to file RTI again with additional fee. Follow-up RTI filed but yet to receive response. | Final order is pending in the case. The commission sent copies of interim orders passed by it primarily to seek further information from state authorities. | No RTI filed. |
| No response. | The NHRC said it was informed by the government of Maharashtra that the victim’s family had sought compensation in a petition filed in the Bombay High Court. Since the matter was now in court, the NHRC said that it closed the case and “weeded out” the files. | No RTI filed. | |
| Asked to file RTI again saying the fee should be paid by postal order. RTI filed again but yet to receive response. | No response. | No RTI filed. | |
| B. Janardhan | No response. | No response. | No RTI filed. |
| Julfar Shaikh | Said the application had been forwarded to the relevant Public Information Officer at the Dharavi police station and they should be contacted. RTI filed again but yet to receive response. | The NHRC said it closed the case since it was being handled by the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission. | No response. |
| K. Syed Mohammed | The police said that the case had been transferred to the state’s Central Investigation Department and therefore they cannot answer questions. Follow-up RTI was filed but yet to receive response from CBI. | No response. | No RTI filed. |
| Sachin Dhage Senthil Kumar Shaik Hyder Shyamu Singh | No response. | No response. | No RTI filed. |
| The police said that the case had been transferred to the state Central Investigation Department and therefore they cannot answer questions. Follow-up RTI was filed but yet to receive response from CBI. | No response. | No RTI filed. | |
| No response. | No response. | Asked for additional money to process the 192-pages of information. | |
| No response. | The NHRC said the case is under investigation and it is therefore unable to share any documents. | No RTI filed. |