Does India need a dedicated anti-torture law and ratification of UNCAT? Discuss in light of the BNSS, 2023.

India signed the UN Convention against Torture (UNCAT) in 1997 but has not ratified it. It still has no standalone law that makes torture a crime. The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 sets out arrest procedure, but it regulates the process of arrest and does not punish torture. A dedicated law is therefore needed.

What BNSS, 2023 offers

• Keeps the D.K. Basu (1997) safeguards from the CrPC: an arrest memo, informing a relative, medical examination, and production before a magistrate within 24 hours, in line with Article 22.
• Supported by Article 21 and Paramvir Singh Saini (2020), which ordered CCTV in police stations.
• Torture is still prosecuted under general hurt and wrongful-confinement offences.

Why the existing framework falls short

• Safeguards have not stopped custodial deaths: the NHRC received 148 police-custody deaths and 1,636 judicial-custody deaths in 2017–18 [1].
• The victim must prove the injury: the Law Commission wanted the law to presume that police caused any injury suffered in custody [2]. The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 left this out [3].
• Self-policing: police prepare the very records that are meant to check them. A skipped memo leaves nothing to audit.
• Compensation varies: courts award compensation case by case, with no statutory standard [2].
• International cost: without ratification, India's extradition requests can fail, because foreign courts may refuse to send people back over fears of torture [2].

Counter-view

• Ratification may invite international scrutiny, and officials fear frivolous complaints against police.
• Rights already exist under Articles 21 and 22. The real gap is in enforcement, which ratification alone will not fix.

Way forward

• Enact the Law Commission's draft Prevention of Torture Bill, 2017, which includes the custodial-injury presumption and a compensation framework based on the nature of the injury and the victim's socio-economic background [2].
• Ratify UNCAT so that domestic law and treaty duties match.
• Extend CCTV to police vehicles and temporary holding sites. Track non-fatal injury complaints, not just deaths.
• Implement the Prakash Singh (2006) reforms, including Police Complaints Authorities.

The BNSS sets the procedure for arrest, but it does not make it costly for an officer to break that procedure. A dedicated anti-torture law and UNCAT ratification would give real force to the dignity promised in Article 21 and to SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions). They would also make India's commitment to rule-of-law policing credible.