Custodial Deaths and Police Brutality in India: An Institutional problem
Jeyaraj and his son Bennicks were arrested on the 19th of June 2020, during lockdown in the South Indian State of Tamil Nadu, in the district of Thoothukudi,. The police alleged that they had kept their store open past curfew. Both men were kept in police custody overnight. They died two days later. Their relatives claimed that they had been brutally tortured by the police, and as reports of the incident began to spread, the people of India started to demand action.
This incident is just the tip of the iceberg, pointing to a larger problem in policing which has been ignored for far too long.
RECENT HISTORY
The case of Jeyaraj and his son Bennicks is not an isolated incident. Other similar incidents over the past few years indicate a larger problem in the Indian police. India has a long history of police brutality, stemming mainly from the lack of accountability among police officers.
In 2018, in the same district of Thoothukudi, the police opened fire on a group of protestors, leading to the demise of 13 citizens. A collective of lawyers, researchers, academics, and activists, with the help of a Human Rights Organization named “Peoples Watch”, published a detailed report on the events that took place before and after the incident, recording the alleged atrocities committed by the police. Experts from the United Nations issued a statement on the incident, highlighting their concerns on the apparent use of excessive force by the Indian authorities on the protestors.
In December 2019, the students of Jamia Millia Islamia came together to protest the controversial new Citizenship Amendment Act. The protests turned violent, and over the course of the month, there were various instances where the police used excessive force on the protestors and bystanders as well. Surveillance footage shows the police entering the library of the university and attacking students. Other footage shows police officers repeatedly assaulting an unarmed Muslim woman repeatedly.
These are but a few of the instances where police brutality has gained national and international attention.
LACK OF POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY IN INDIA
A consortium of non-governmental organizations against custodial torture released a report which stated that a total of 1,731 persons died in custody in 2019. These included 1,606 deaths in judicial custody and 125 deaths in police custody. The Indian police operate under the impunity granted via the Provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code and the principle of sovereign immunity. This impunity has gone to the extent where, in some states, the Police are allowed to kill with impunity.
The Supreme Court of India has, in various situations, recognized the need for police accountability and reform. It has also issued guidelines for the police, known as the DK Basu Guidelines. These guidelines are intended to promote accountability among police officers, and to ensure that appropriate remedies are available to the affected parties by providing a procedural framework for the police to follow. However, these guidelines are rarely implemented by the police. The Court had also ordered the implementation of “police complaint authorities”. These were to be institutions that recorded complaints on police officers across ranks, states and districts. However, a report from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative indicates that these reforms have also been resisted.
DEVELOPMENTS SINCE THE DEATHS OF JEYARAJ AND BENNICKS
Based on the reports filed before the Court by the local Magistrate, the High Court held that there was sufficient evidence to initiate murder charges on the police officers involved. The report included eyewitness testimony of a female constable from the same police station. Initially, the police officers in question refused to cooperate with the Magistrate. The Magistrate complained that the police officers also sought to withhold and tamper with evidence. "They [the police] were emboldened enough to even intimidate the judicial officer to put spokes in the wheel of his enquiry," the Court said. The state government transferred the case to federal investigators after the court noted that "a free and fair investigation and inquiry" would be difficult otherwise. Five policemen who were connected with the death of Jeyaraj and Bennicks, have since been charged with murder and arrested.
India is one of the five countries which have not ratified the 1987 United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Prevention of Torture Bill was introduced in the Indian Parliament in 2010, but to date, has not been passed.