KEY TRENDS
• From 2001 to 2010, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recorded 14,231 deaths in police and judicial custody in India. This includes 1,504 deaths in police custody and 12,727 deaths in judicial custody from 2001-2002 to 2009-2010#
• In the last three years, 2,044 cases of police torture were registered to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). These included 574 cases in 2008-2009, 615 cases in 2009-2010 and 855 cases in 2010-2011#
• The NHRC registered only a total of the 25 cases of death in the custody of the military/ para-military forces from 2001-2002 to 2009-2010 up to 28 February 2010#
• 35% of the complaints to the NHRC annually are against the police##
• 9% of the complaints to the NHRC in 2010-11 were on inaction by officials or their abuse of power, confirming that laws are often not implemented or ignored##
• 67% of prisoners are under trial, either unable to raise bail or confined far longer than they should be because of the huge backlog of cases##
# Torture in India 2011, Asian Centre for Human Rights,
http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/torture2011.pdf
## Second Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights in the Country by NHRC (2011),
http://www.nhrc.nic.in/Reports/UPR-Final%20Report.pdf
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The key findings of the report titled Torture in India 2011, which has been brought out by Asian Centre for Human Rights, http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/torture2011.pdf:
• In the last three years, 2,044 cases of police torture were registered to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). These included 574 cases in 2008-2009, 615 cases in 2009-2010 and 855 cases in 2010-2011. The statistics has gone up every year. However, these cases are only a fraction. Majority of the cases go unreported.
• From 2001 to 2010, the NHRC recorded 14,231 deaths in police and judicial custody in India. This includes 1,504 deaths in police custody and 12,727 deaths in judicial custody from 2001-2002 to 2009-2010
• The NHRC recorded 1504 deaths in police custody during 2001-2010 which includes 165 deaths in 2001-2002; 183 deaths in 2002-2003; 162 deaths in 2003-2004; 136 deaths in 2004-2005; 139 deaths in 2005-2006; 119 deaths in 2006-2007; 187 deaths in 2007-2008; 142 deaths in 2008-2009; 124 deaths in 2009-2010 and 147 deaths in 2010-2011.
• Maharashtra recorded the highest number of deaths in police custody with 250 deaths during 2001-2010; followed by Uttar Pradesh (174); Gujarat (134); Andhra Pradesh (109); West Bengal (98); Tamil nadu (95); Assam (84); Karnataka (67); Punjab (57); Madhya Pradesh (55); Haryana (45); Bihar (44); Kerala (42); Jharkhand (41); Rajasthan (38); Orissa (34); Delhi (30); Chhattisgarh (24); Uttarakhand (20); Meghalaya (17); Arunachal Pradesh (10); Tripura (8); Jammu and Kashmir (6); Himachal Pradesh (5); Goa, Chandigarh and Pondicherry (3 each); Manipur, Mizoram and nagaland (2 each); and sikkim and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (1 each).
• During 2010-2011, the highest number of death in police custody was reported from Maharashtra with 31 cases followed by Uttar Pradesh (15); Andhra Pradesh (14); Gujarat (9); Assam and Orissa (7 each); Bihar, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand (6 each); Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal (5 each); Uttarakhand (4); Delhi and Haryana (3 each); Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Manipur, Mizoram and Rajasthan (2 each); and Nagaland, Tripura and Chhattisgarh (1 each).
• The NHRC also recorded 12,727 deaths in judicial custody from 2001-2002 to 2009-10. These included 1,140 cases in 2001-2002; 1,157 cases in 2002-2003; 1,300 cases in 2003-2004; 1,357 cases in 2004-2005; 1,591 cases in 2005-2006; 1,477 cases in 2006-2007; 1,789 cases in 2007-2008; 1,532 cases in 2008-2009; 1,389 cases in 2009-2010 upto 28 February 2010.
• Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of deaths in judicial custody 2001-2002 to 2009-10 with 2171 deaths, followed by Bihar (1512); Maharashtra (1176); Andhra Pradesh (1037); Tamil Nadu (744); Punjab (739); West Bengal (601); Jharkhand (541); Madhya Pradesh (520); Karnataka (496); Rajasthan (491); Gujarat (458); Haryana (431); Orissa (416); Kerala (402); Chhattisgarh (351); Delhi (224); Assam (165); Uttarakhand (91); Himachal Pradesh (29); Tripura (26); Meghalaya (24); Chandigarh (23); Goa (18); Arunachal Pradesh (9); Pondicherry (8); Jammu and Kashmir and Nagaland (6 each); Mizoram (4); sikkim and Andaman and Nicober Island (3 each); and Manipur and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (1 each).
• On 9 March 2010, Mr Ajay Maken, then Minster of state in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India stated in the Lok Sabha that the NHRC recommended monetary relief of Rs 5,59,45,000 to the next of kin of the deceased in 386 cases of custodial death/rape across the country from 1 April 2006 to 28 February 2010. These included Rs. 1,62,5000 in 19 cases in 2006-2007; Rs. 1,16,75,000 in 82 cases in 2007-2008; Rs. 2,05,75,000 in 144 cases in 2008-2009; and Rs. 2,20,70,000 in 141 cases in 2009-2010 up to 28 February 2010.
• The NHRC registered only a total of the 25 cases of death in the custody of the military/ para-military forces from 2001-2002 to 2009-2010 up to 28 February 2010. These included 2 cases in 2001-02; nil cases in 2002-2003; 1 case in 2003-2004; 7 in 2004-2005; 4 in 2005-2006; 1 case in 2006-2007; 4 cases in 2007-2008; 4 cases in 2008-2009; and 2 cases in 2009-2010 upto 28 February 2010.
According to the report titled: Second Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights in the Country by NHRC (2011), http://www.nhrc.nic.in/Reports/UPR-Final%20Report.pdf:
Civil and political rights
• 35% of the complaints to the NHRC annually are against the police. In 2006 the Supreme Court issued seven binding directives to start reform, but little has been done, though the need is urgent.
• 9% of the complaints to the NHRC in 2010-11 were on inaction by officials or their abuse of power, confirming that laws are often not implemented or ignored.
• Custodial justice remained a problem. Jails are overcrowded and unhygienic, disease rampant and treatment poor. 67% of prisoners are under trial, either unable to raise bail or confined far longer than they should be because of the huge backlog of cases.
• There are inordinate delays in the provision of justice. 56,383 cases were pending in the Supreme Court at the end of October 2011. At the end of 2010, 4.2 million cases were pending in High Courts, and almost 28 million in subordinate courts.
• The degrading practice of manual scavenging festers on. Some States are in denial over this. The Indian Railways are the largest users of manual scavengers.
Economic, social and cultural rights
• A massive public distribution system has not assured the right to food because malnutrition is endemic. The National Advisory Council has recommended that legal entitlements to subsidized foodgrains be extended to at least 75% of the population. This is not acceptable to the Government, which sets arbitrary ceilings on the numbers who can be declared as being below the poverty line.
• The official estimate that 27.5% of the population was below the poverty line in 2004-05 grossly understates the incidence of poverty. The expert committee set up by the Planning Commission put the figure at 37.2%. Other committees set up by Ministries peg it even higher.
• Over 90% of the workforce is in the unorganized sector, has no access to social security, is particularly vulnerable in the cities, and is therefore driven into permanent debt, often leading to conditions of bonded labour.
• The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme guaranteed 100 days of work a year to any rural household that needed it. Government data showed that 56 million households applied, 55 million were given work but on average received half the wages guaranteed. The Scheme has not therefore made enough of an impact, very large sums of money have been siphoned off, and it does not provide long-term employment or build permanent assets.
• Public spending on health continues to be abysmally low, at about 1% of GDP, despite Government's commitment to raise it to 2-3%.
• The current National Family Health Survey reports that "the percentage of children under age five years who are underweight is almost 20 times as high in India as would be expected in a healthy, well-nourished population and is almost twice as high as the average percentage of underweight children in sub-Saharan African countries.
• A huge programme called the Integrated Child Development Services was set up in 1975, but an evaluation done in 2011 for the Planning Commission found that 60% of the annual budget for supplementary nutrition was being diverted. (A study done for the NHRC confirms this.)
• The Indira Awas Yojana, set up to provide rural housing, requires that an applicant have a plot of land. Millions of landless are excluded. The scheme does not give enough to build a house, and there is some evidence that those who take the money end up in debt.
• The NHRC, which monitors human rights in 28 representative districts across India, finds in its field visits that none of the flagship programmes function well.
The Naxal movement
• Estimates are that 200 out of the 600 districts in India are affected, though the Government puts the figure at around 60 districts.
According to Torture in India (2010), which has been prepared by the Asian Centre for Human Rights, http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/torture2010.pdf:
• Since 2000, according to the statistics submitted to the parliament by the Ministry of Home Affairs, prison custody deaths have increased by 54.02% by 2008, while police custody deaths during the same period have increased by 19.88%. In fact, under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule from 2004-2005 to 2007-2008, prison custody deaths have increased by 70.72% while police custody deaths during the same period have increased by 12.60%.
• On 8 April 2010, the Cabinet approved the decision to introduce the Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010 before the parliament and ratify the UN Convention Against Torture. The Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010 is being treated as a secret document. Its earlier draft, Prevention of Torture Bill, 2008, contained only three operative paragraphs relating to (1) definition of torture, (2) punishment for torture, and (3) limitations for cognizance of offences. The Prevention of Torture Bill, 2008 was highly flawed and ACHR had submitted specific recommendations to the Government of India after holding a National Conference in New Delhi in June 2009.
• In the decade 1999-2009, the Congress-National Congress Party ruled Maharashtra had the highest number of deaths (246 cases) in police custody followed by Uttar Pradesh (165 cases), Gujarat (139 cases), West Bengal (112 cases), Andhra Pradesh (99 cases), Tamil Nadu (93 cases), Assam (91 cases), Punjab (71 cases), Karnataka (69 cases), Madhya Pradesh (66 cases), Haryana (45 cases), Bihar (43 cases), Delhi (42 cases), Kerala (41 cases), Rajasthan (38 cases), Jharkhand (31 cases), Orissa (27 cases), Chhattisgarh (23 cases), Meghalaya (17 cases), Uttarakhand (16 cases), Arunachal Pradesh (15 cases), Tripura (9 cases), Goa (5 cases), Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Chandigarh (4 cases each), Pondicherry (3 cases) and Mizoram, Sikkim, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and Andaman & Nicober Islands (1 each).
• Of the 127 police cusody deaths registered by the NHRC in 2008-2009, the highest number of cases were reported from Uttar Pradesh (24 cases) followed by Maharashtra (23), Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat (12 cases each), Assam (7 cases), Tamil Nadu and Haryana (6 cases each), Bihar and Madhya Pradesh (5 cases each), Punjab, Rajasthan & West Bengal (4 cases each), Jharkhand, Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh, Orissa and Kerala (2 cases each), and 1 case reported from Meghalaya, Tripura, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh and Dadar & Nagar Haveli.
• The police routinely cite “suicide” as a cause of death in custody. According to the NCRB, 31 persons died by committing suicide in police custody in 2007, 24 persons in 2006 and 30 persons in 2005.
• According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), one custodial rape case was reported in India in 2007, two custodial rape cases were reported in 2006, and seven custodial rape cases in 2005.
• Among all the armed opposition groups in India, the Naxalites or Maoists are probably the worst human rights violators. In blatant disregard for the international humanitarian law, the Maoists continued to kill civilians on the allegation of being “police informers”, members of the anti-Maoist civilian militia such as “Salwa Judum” and for not obeying their diktats. The Maoists have been responsible for brutal killing of their hostages after abduction. Often the hostages are killed by slitting their throats or beheading. Often these killings were authorized by Maoist ‘people’s courts or Jan Adalats.
• The National Human Rights Commission registered 1,996 cases of torture of prisoners in 2006-2007, 2,481 cases in 2007-2008 and 1,596 cases in 2008-2009 (upto 11 December 2008).
• According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) under Ministry of Home Affairs, 1,424 prisoners died in 2006, 1,387 prisoners in 2005, 1,169 prisoners in 2004, and 1,060 prisoners in 2003 in India. Of the 1,423 prisoners who died in 2006, 80 died as a result of “unnatural” causes.
• The 2007 Annual Report of the National Crime Records Bureau reported a total of 30,031 cases - including 206 cases under the Protection of Civil Rights Act and 9,819 cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 – against the Scheduled Castes in 2007. Although the average charge-sheeting rate for the crimes against the SCs was 90.6 per cent, the average conviction rate was only 30.9%. A total of 51,705 persons (78.9%) out of 65,554 persons arrested for crimes committed against Scheduled Castes were charge-sheeted but only 29.4% were convicted consisting of 13,871 persons out of 47,136 persons against whom trials were completed.
• The NHRC on a number of occasions has failed to recognize torture despite medical evidence supporting allegations of torture. While considering the cases, the NHRC overly relies on official records (often reports of the security establishment) that it often ignores contrary evidence including medical records.
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According to the Prison Statistics 2006, National Crime Records Bureau
(http://ncrb.nic.in/PSI2006/prison2006.htm):
A total of 1,423 prisoners died in jails due to natural and unnatural causes during 2006 in the country out of which 1,343 were natural deaths and 80 were due to unnatural causes
Deaths due to murder by inmates were reported only from Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka (1 each).
Uttar Pradesh (3,101) has reported the highest number of inmates detained for a period of 2 to 3 years followed by Bihar (2,565). Meghalaya has reported the highest percentage (9.6%) undertrial prisoners kept in custody for 2 to 3 years followed by Nagaland (7.7%), Jharkhand (7.2%) and Uttaranchal (7.1%).
Uttar Pradesh has reported the highest (8,886) number of undertrial prisoners detained for a period of 6 months to 1 year followed by Bihar (8,076).
1,569 undertrials were reported languishing in jails for 5 years or more in different parts of the country.
The percentage of undertrial prisoners to the total prisoners in jails is 65.7 percent in the country and the share of convicted prisoners is 31.3 percent
The highest percentage (28.0%) of undertrials were charged with Murder. Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of (9,936) such Undertrials (18.5%) followed by Bihar 8,102 (15.1%).
1,569 Undertrials (0.6% of total undertrials) were detained in jails for more than 5 years at the end of the year 2006. Punjab had the highest number of such undertrials (377) followed by Bihar (356).
347 Convicts including 8 females lodged in different jails of the country at the end of 2006 were awarded capital punishment.
62,180 Convicts accounting for 53.3% of total Convicts in the country were undergoing sentences for Life Imprisonment at the end of the year 2006.
13,084 Convicts were repeat/recidivists, which accounted for 5.1% of total convicts admitted during the year.
64 convicted prisoners were in the age group of 16-18 years, 44,371 in the age group of 18 to 30 years, 56,479 convicts were in the age group of 30 to 50 years and 15,761 convicts were 50 years or more.
567 undertrial prisoners were in the age group of 16-18 years, 1,06,335 in the age group of above 18 to 30 years, 1,09,039 undertrials were in the age group of above 30 to 50 years and 29,303 undertrials were 50 years or more.
According to the Annual Report 2004-05, National Human Rights Commission,
(http://nhrc.nic.in/Documents/AR/AR04-05ENG.pdf):
Custodial deaths
In keeping with the guidelines issued by the Commission, the State Government Authorities have been reporting all deaths in custody, police as well as judicial, natural or otherwise, to the Commission. In the year 2004-2005, out of 1493 custodial deaths reported to the Commission, 136 deaths in police custody and 1,357 deaths in judicial custody.
There was, however, an increase in the deaths in police custody in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, Delhi, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal.
In the light of the revised guidelines issued by the Commission on 2 December, 2003, 122 intimations were received from the various State Governments about killings in encounters during the year 2004-2005. These included 66 such intimations from the State of Uttar Pradesh, 18 intimations from Andhra Pradesh, 9 from Delhi and 5 each from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Separately, the Commission also received 84 complaints about alleged killings in fake encounters.
Population of prisoners
The total prison population was 3,36,151, which indicated an overcrowding of 41.47% against the authorised capacity of 2,37,617. 11 States/ UTs, namely, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi experienced overcrowding ranging from 52% to 224%.
Delhi continues to hold the most overcrowded jails (224%) followed by Jharkhand (195%) Chhattisgarh (111%) and Gujarat (104%). Jails had idle capacities in 6 States and 4 Union Territories, namely Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, West Bengal, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Lakshdeep
Undertrial prisoners constituted 71.14% of the total prison population in the country. 11 States/UTs have undertrial prisoners exceeding 80% of the total prison population. These are: Dadra & Nagar Haveli (100%), Meghalaya (94.71%), Manipur (92.51%), Jammu & Kashmir (88.90%), Bihar (85.66%), Daman & Diu (84.15%), Nagaland (83.31%), Uttar Pradesh (82.47%), Delhi (81.45%), Chandigarh (80.42%) and West Bengal (80.20%). Chhattisgarh is the only State, which has less than 50% undertrial prisoners (48.57%).
Women constituted 3.97% of the total prison population in the country. Uttaranchal (11.69%) tops the list followed by Mizoram (10.45%), Tamil Nadu (9.25%), Chandigarh (6.47%), Andhra Pradesh (5.77%), West Bengal (5.71%) and Punjab (5.68%).
A total of 1544 children were in jails with their mothers. U.P. with 385 accounted for the largest, followed by West Bengal (163), Maharashtra (143), Jharkhand (142) and Madhya Pradesh (127).
Human rights abuse
The total number of cases registered in the Commission during 2004-2005 was 74,401, while the corresponding figure for the year 2003-2004 was 72,990. Of the cases that were registered during the year under review, 72,775 cases were complaints of alleged human rights violations besides 1500 cases related to intimations of custodial deaths, 4 cases of custodial rapes and 122 related to police encounters.
Of the custodial deaths that were reported in the course of the year 2004-2005, 7 deaths allegedly occurred in the custody of defence / para-military forces, 136 deaths occurred in police custody, while 1357 in judicial custody.
As in the past, the largest number of complaints registered was from the State of Uttar Pradesh; they numbered 44,351 or 59.6 percent of the total number of complaints registered by the Commission. Delhi followed Uttar Pradesh, with 5,221 complaints while Bihar coming third with 3,917 complaints.
According to Torture in India 2008-A State of Denial, which has been brought out by the Asian Centre for Human Rights (http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/torture2008.pdf):
There exist serious weaknesses in institutions that should check torture in India. The Courts have proven a powerful tool against torture but are hampered by lack of specific legislation, immunities offered under the Criminal Procedure Code and national security laws as well as the more general problem of judicial delay.
In 2006-2007, the NHRC received a total of 1,597 custodial death cases including 118 cases in police custody, 1,477 cases in judicial custody and two cases in the custody of defense and paramilitary forces.
In 2005-2006, the NHRC received 1,575 custodial deaths including 124 in police custody and 1,451 in judicial custody. In 2004-2005, NHRC received 1,493 cases of custodial deaths including 136 deaths in police custody and 1, 357 deaths in judicial custody.
In 2003-2004, there were 1,340 custodial death cases including 183 in police custody and 1,157 in judicial custody. In 2002-2003, NHRC received 1,463 custodial death cases including 162 deaths in police custody and 1,300 deaths in judicial custody, one death in the custody of para-military forces. The statistics of NHRC imply that in the last five years 7,468 persons at an average of 1,494 persons per year or four person in a day died in police and prison custody in India. However, these figures represent only a fraction of the actual cases of torture. Cases of torture not resulting in death are not recorded. They do not differentiate between deaths in custody resulting from legitimate causes, for example old age, and due to the use of torture. Moreover, the NHRC has no mandate to investigate or record human rights violations perpetrated by military and para-military forces. NHRC often reports that there were no custodial deaths resulting from torture in the conflict-afflicted state of Manipur or in Jammu and Kashmir. This assertion lies uneasily with the high levels of well-documented cases in those states.
A large number of reported cases of torture and custodial death result from attempts to extract a confession relating to theft or other petty offences. Clearly this suggests that the suspects belonging to the lower economic and social strata are particularly vulnerable.
According to India Human Rights Report, 2008, which has been brought out by the Asian Centre for Human Rights (http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/AR08/AR2008.pdf):
In 2007, 29,596 cases on alienation and restoration of tribal lands were heard by the courts in Madhya Pradesh. Not a single case was ruled in favour of the tribal groups.
“Encounter killing” is yet another euphemism used to hide extrajudicial executions. It presupposes an armed encounter. The fact that out of 301 complaints of “encounter deaths” between 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007, over 66% (201 cases) were received by NHRC from Uttar Pradesh alone – which has no armed conflict - is extremely disturbing.
In 2007 the NCRB reported that 139 people died in police custody. 23 people died during production, process of the courts and the journey connected with investigation; 38 of them died during their hospitalization and treatment; 9 died in mob attacks/riots; 2 were killed by other criminals; 31 committed suicide; 7 escaped and 29 died from illness/ natural causes.