The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture in a report in 2014 recognized that “corrupt and malfunctioning criminal justice systems are a root cause of torture and ill-treatment of detainees”[1]. In 2014, the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment highlighted the correlation between corruption and torture or ill-treatment in places of detention, concluding that the fight against torture and ill-treatment demands appropriate measures to eradicate corruption, underpinned by robust democratic principles.[2]
In its resolution 37/19, the UN Human Rights Council recognized the importance of understanding the interrelation between corruption and torture or illtreatment and invited the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other relevant special procedures to take this question into account in their future work.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture in his report[3] to the 40th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (25 February 2019 to 22 March 2019) examined the relationship between corruption and torture or ill-treatment and outlined the predominant patterns of interaction between the two phenomena and offered recommendations for States with a view to strengthening the protection against torture and ill-treatment in contexts where such abuse is linked to corruption. The report specifically highlighted the importance of external oversight in combating corruption and torture. In the context of policing, the report stated that the practice of corruption and of torture or ill-treatment typically goes beyond individual officers and extends to their units or even entire police departments, often exacerbated by collusion at worst or acquiescence at best on the part of the judiciary and open or implicit complacency on the part of policymakers. Overall, the resort by individual officials to corruption or to torture and ill-treatment is more often the result of their professional environment than of their personal character.
That corruption is one of the reasons for widespread prevalence of torture in India is well established. Many are tortured to death for the failure to pay bribe and in most of these cases, the victims are tortured in front of the relatives and falsely implicated in crimes. Those who were killed in custody for being unable to pay bribes were Sandeep, a Dalit aged 25 years, who died on 16 August 2018 due to alleged torture at Rampura Police Outpost in Rudrapur under Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand allegedly for not paying Rs 50,000 demanded by the police;[4] and Umesh Solanki, aged 33 years, who was tortured to death for allegedly not paying Rs 70,000 to the policemen at Kagdapith Police Station in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on 5 December 2018.[5]
In order to extract bribes, victims were often tortured in front of their relatives, such as Manoj Soni who died on 15 March 2018 after he was allegedly tortured in front of his wife Neelu Soni at the Rahatgarh Police Station in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh;[6] Sukhraj Singh, aged 56 years, who died on 25 July 2018 after he was allegedly tortured in front of his family members at the time of arrest from his home at Indira Colony in Chandigarh;[7] Maskur Nabi, aged 60 years, who died due to alleged torture in front of his family members by the police personnel from Bisauli Police Station on 8 August 2018 at Sangrampur village under Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh;[8] Arun, aged 29 years, who was allegedly beaten by the police in front of his wife Rinku on 12 August 2018 at New Anaj Mandi, Salarpur road under Kurukshetra district of Haryana;[9] and Vaidhnath Choudhary, aged 40 years, who died of torture allegedly in front of his son Rakesh at the Karni Vihar Police Station in Jaipur, Rajasthan on 22 October 2018.[10]
For illegal gratification, many victims were falsely implicated and tortured to death. The victims included Narendra Kumar, aged 34 years, who died at Mawana Police Station in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh on 24 April 2018;[11] Jogendra Das, aged 40 years, who died in the custody of Astaranga Police Station in Puri district of Odisha on 28 November 2018.[12]
Unless there is genuine oversight of the places of detention by independent authorities which is absolutely absent at present, torture to extract bribe is unlikely to be addressed. The NHRC should take measures to implement the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.
Endnotes:
[1]. Manfred Nowak, in his capacity as Special Rapporteur, addressing the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice on 24 April 2009. See www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/unhuman-rights-rapporteur-denounces-torture.html.
[2]. CAT/C/52/2, paras. 72– 100
[3]. A/HRC/40/59, Annual Report of SR on Torture, 16 January 2019, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G19/007/75/PDF/G1900775.pdf?OpenElement
[4]. Undertrial dies in Haldwani jail, family alleges ‘torture’ by cops, The Times of India, 18 August 2018
[5]. Dalit man in hospital after ‘cops thrash him all night’, The Ahmadabad Mirror, 8 November 2018, available at https://ahmedabadmirror.indiatimes.com/ahmedabad/others/dalit-man-in-hospital-after-cops-thrash-him-all-night/articleshowprint/66993761.cms?prtpage=1
[6]. Magisterial inquiry ordered into Sagar ‘custody’ death, The Times of India, 16 March 2018, available at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/magisterial-inquiry-ordered-into-sagar-custody-death/articleshow/63336060.cms
[7]. Chandigarh: Family alleges police torture, SSP orders probe into death of power board staffer, The Indian Express, 27 July 2018, available at https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/chandigarh-family-alleges-police-torture-ssp-orders-probe-into-death-of-power-board-staffer-5278631/
[8]. Three cops booked for culpable homicide, The Times of India, 10 August 2018
[9]. NHRC Case No.1984/7/11/2018
[10]. Man ‘beaten up’ by cops inside Karni Vihar Police Station, dies, Times of India, 24 October 2018, available at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/man-beaten-up-by-cops-inside-karni-vihar-police-station-dies/articleshow/66341129.cms
[11]. Uttar Pradesh: Man held for cow slaughter dies in custody; Gujjars threaten protests, The Indian Express, 30 April 2018, available at https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/lucknow/uttar-pradesh-man-held-for-cow-slaughter-dies-in-custody-gujjars-threaten-protests-5156669/
[12]. Man dies after ‘police torture’, The Orissa Post, 29 November 2018, available at http://www.orissapost.com/man-dies-after-police-torture/