Custodial violence
Topic: Justice Delivery: Subordinate Courts, Tribunals, Legal Aid and Judicial Reforms · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "Rights in the Indian Constitution"
Meaning
Custodial violence means torture, abuse or death of a person while they are held by the police or in jail. It breaks the right to life and dignity under Article 21. The Supreme Court in D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1997) set safeguards to prevent it. These include preparing an arrest memo, informing a relative and holding a medical check. India signed the UN Convention against Torture in 1997 but has not ratified it (made it legally binding). The Law Commission's 273rd Report (2017) proposed a law against torture.
Example
Suppose a man arrested for theft is beaten in a police lock-up to force a confession and later dies. That is custodial violence. The D.K. Basu safeguards, such as an arrest memo and a medical check, are meant to make such abuse harder to hide.
Don't confuse with
- Police custody: this is lawful detention for questioning under a magistrate's order. Custodial violence is unlawful abuse that happens during any kind of custody.
Related concepts
- Criminal justice system
- Police
- Commissionerate system of policing
- Cognizable offence
- Non-cognizable offence
- First Information Report
- Zero FIR
- e-FIR
- Charge sheet
- Arnesh Kumar guidelines