Why deaths in custody will not end soon

Sankar Sen
Former Director General, National Human Rights Commission

Advertisement

The CBI Court in Kerala recently sentenced to death two police officers for custodial killing. In this case, a scrap dealer arrested by the police had to be released as he was found innocent, but he had to pay the price with his life when he demanded the return of money extorted from him by the police. He was taken to the Fort police station in Thiruvananthapuram and brutally tortured to death. The brave mother of the victim courageously and doggedly pursued the case which, after 13 years, ended in the accused being sentenced to death. 

This is not perhaps the first case where serving police officers have been awarded the death sentence for committing brutal crimes. I recollect the case of a notorious police sub-inspector being awarded the death sentence by the lower court for gunning down a businessman, who refused to pay the extortion money, but the high court subsequently commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment.

Deaths in police custody in the country continue unabated and merit a searching analysis of the reasons behind it. Is it just police perversity or outcome of systemic malaise? The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had as early as in 1993 directed all state governments to report to it any death in police or jail custody within 24 hours. The Collectors and SPs were clearly warned that failure to report a custodial death would force the Commission to draw an adverse presumption.  

NHRC records show that 2,860 people died in police custody in the 20 years between 1993 and 2013. This works out to an average of nearly 150 deaths in police custody every year.  The pattern has held in the subsequent years also.  It is true that all cases of deaths in police custody are due to custodial violence.  Some commit suicide or die due to pre-existing ailments. NHRC closes such cases without ordering any monetary compensation but the stark fact remains that torture causes many deaths in police custody. 

The scenario remains unchanged despite the courts punishing some errant police officers, firm directives of the apex court, a slew of recommendations of National and State HRCs, copious police orders and circulars. 

The evil is not of recent origin though instances of custodial torture and violence by the police are now coming to notice with increasing frequency. The Torture Commission (1850) highlighted wide prevalence of torture in the police stations of Madras Presidency, and the Indian Police Commission (1902-03) also expressed serious concerns about prevalence of torture and deaths in police stations.

The deaths convey the impression that the police force is packed with sadists and maniacs, who relish the sight of broken skulls. This notion, however, is misleading. But pressure on the police mounts whenever there is a surge in crime and lawlessness. There is public outcry for apprehending the alleged criminals and bringing them to book, if necessary, by adopting extra-legal methods. Political masters too bear down on the police to ensure that criminals are booked and tend to wink at the lawlessness of the police.  A perceptive writer on police psychology (Ben Whiteaker) has aptly observed that “Janus-like, we have always turned two faces towards a police man.”  Because of incompatible demands of the public some policemen become stoically immune to criticism. 

There is also an undercurrent of feeling among the police officers that it is difficult to nail them for the atrocities committed within police stations. Other colleagues including the seniors rally round them and try to whitewash their omissions and commissions. The “blue code of silence” will rule. Very few members of the public will muster courage to depose against them. This explains the low conviction rate. The National Police Commission analysed complaints of police torture and custodial deaths in eight states, and found that the charges against the aberrant police personnel could not be proved in most of the cases. Only in some judicial enquiries, they were found guilty, but seldom in departmental enquiries, which drag on interminably, and fail to sustain the charges. There is downright supervisory cowardice to expose and punish the violence prone subordinates. Group solidarity triumphs over oath to honour the law and uphold the Constitution. 

The National Police Commission recommended mandatory judicial enquiries in all cases of custodial deaths. NHRC’s annual reports mention the compensation awarded to the victims in cases of police torture and custodial deaths, but there is no indication of punishment imposed on the culpable officers. This is because in very few cases they are visited with exemplary punishment.

Unbecoming conduct of the police is not the outcome of aberration of some “bad apples”. Police deviance is deep-seated. It is caused by an organisational culture that does not frown upon misuse and abuse of force and glorifies the ethic of masculinity. In many police training institutions, the emphasis is still on hard-nosed and not humane policing. The human rights culture is yet to permeate the Indian police. Many police leaders forget the fact that indulgence in torture or other extra-legal strong arm tactics has a long term corroding effect on the police organisations. 

It builds up “a guild of professional torturers” and plays havoc with police professionalism.  In cases of custodial deaths, the police have to contrive elaborate ingenuous device to cover their tracks. Police work ceases to be straightforward and a “bunker mentality” grows. It is also a fact that most of the victims of custodial torture are poor and disadvantaged people with little political or financial power to back them. And, at times, pecuniary gains, become important considerations for custodial deaths, rather than investigation of cases.

Human rights training and sensitisation of the police force has had marginal impact but the more enduring result has been accomplished by constant exhortations by senior police leaders that custodial torture is illegal and counter-productive and will not be brooked.