Kotkhai and the unchecked horror of custodial torture

On July 4, 2017, a 16-year-old girl went missing in Himachal Pradesh's Kotkhai. Two days later, her body was recovered from a forest near the town. The sensational rape and murder of Gudiya (the name given to the minor victim by locals) made newspaper headlines across the country and triggered political mudslinging and massive public protests.

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In order to assuage public sentiments, the government swiftly formed a special investigation team under the then IG, Zahoor Haider Zaidi. In such high-profile cases, a combination of mounting political pressure, an aggressive media and rising public outrage often forces the police to resort to an old script — of quickly picking up scapegoats and inflicting torture on them to extort confessions and douse the anger.

Unfortunately, this case was no different. Twelve days later, Suraj Singh, one of the suspects in the case, was brutally tortured and killed by the police. An investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation later revealed that a nexus of eight officials — Zaidi, DSP Manoj Joshi, Sub-Inspector Rajinder Singh, ASI Deep Chand Sharma, head constables Mohan Lal, Surat Singh and Rafee Mohammad and constable Ranjeet Steta — was involved in the conspiracy and cover-up.

The brazen conspiracy was only the latest example that spotlighted the grim reality of custodial torture and deaths. The malaise has not been eradicated despite the Supreme Court, the National Human Rights Commission and civil society groups repeatedly lamenting that allowing this criminality to continue by not fixing accountability on perpetrators had created a culture of impunity.

The conviction pronounced by a CBI court last week for illegal detention, torture to extort confessions, murder, fabricating and destroying evidence, and other crimes in the case, is an important blow to this culture of impunity.

It offers a glimmer of hope for holding the police accountable for their actions, especially in a milieu where convictions in custodial death cases are rare.

Three takeaways from the case are crucial.

First, the focus on the role of the whistleblower, Dinesh Kumar, who was the sentry on duty outside the lockup of the Kotkhai police station at the time of the incident. His testimony provided a crucial account of the night when police officers brutally beat Suraj Singh and others on the first floor of the station, with their screams echoing down to the ground floor.

The extraordinary nature of this testimony is evident when one turns to the 1995 State of MP vs Shyamsunder Trivedi case, where the Supreme Court noted that police officers, bound by "ties of brotherhood", often choose to stay silent rather than assist the court.

Initially, this case was no different. All personnel involved —- except Dinesh Kumar and Mukesh Sharma (the night munshi on duty) — worked together to fabricate and destroy evidence.

Kumar, however, resisted joining the conspiracy to falsify the death. Despite frequent threats from Rajinder Singh, the then SHO of Kotkhai Police Station, Kumar stood firm. Not only that, he recorded these threat calls, which became a key piece of evidence in holding the perpetrators accountable. His bravery in speaking the truth and exposing the crimes committed by his superiors was the single biggest contributor to the landmark conviction.

Second, the critical role of the CBI cannot be overstated. Its investigation to unearth the fabrication of the general diary and other documents at the police station and interference with the CCTNS (Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems) as well as ensuring that the autopsy report was not manipulated and safeguarding the family from the fear of reprisal so that they could testify in court, all collectively ensured that Suraj Singh's killers were brought to justice.

Third, the brazenness displayed by the police even in a high-profile case with nationwide scrutiny is instructive. The IG confidently proclaimed in a press conference that the police had 'cracked' the Gudiya case and arrested the culprits based on scientific evidence, whereas the arrests were made six hours after this press conference. Further, the IG tried to intimidate and force the then SP, Shimla, to hand over Suraj Singh's body to the family for cremation even as the re-examination of the body was yet to be conducted — all this, at a time when the police had not even informed the family of Suraj's death.

Clearly, even intense media scrutiny and political pressure were not deterrents enough for the officials to stick to the law.

The conviction is heartening, especially in a system where guilty officers often escape any accountability.

But it is far from a watershed moment. The 400-odd-page judgment makes for sombre reading and is a ringing indictment of the criminal justice system.

It showed that despite a flurry of apex court orders, torture of suspects is rampant and easily excused. Medical reports and testimonies of the co-accused revealed that they were stripped naked, hung upside down, beaten with lathis and given electric shocks. Suraj Singh's autopsy report showed that he was beaten with a blunt hard cylindrical object/weapon, such as lathi, rod or baton, from about two days to two hours prior to death.

It showed that the fabrication of evidence can be done with little fear of consequences. And, it showed that whistleblowers continue to battle mounting challenges if they choose to expose the rot in the system.

The Kotkhai verdict was achieved against odds because of the grit of investigating officials to uncover and deal with procedural violations, the courage of the eyewitnesses to stand up and testify against their superiors, even threats hanging over their heads, and the availability of the recordings to corroborate these testimonies.

Now, the hard work must begin to pierce the culture of impunity. While a complete overhaul of police selection, training and orientation is essential, some immediate steps need to be taken. Certain legislative changes will significantly help in preventing law enforcers from becoming lawbreakers.

These changes include reversing the burden of proof in custodial death and torture cases (a recommendation by both the Supreme Court and Law Commission), enacting a comprehensive anti-torture law, ensuring that medical professionals can document injuries without fear of intimidation, installing functional CCTV cameras throughout police stations, giving teeth to police accountability bodies, like the Police Complaint Authority, and developing a framework for lawyers to visit police stations regularly.

Unless these material reforms are undertaken, the odds of another similar tragedy will remain depressingly high.