Over 60% Of Deaths In Police Custody Are Within 24 Hours Of Arrest -Raja Bagga

-IndiaSpend.com

New Delhi: On June 19, 2020, traders P Jayaraj and his son J Bennicks were arrested and detained in Sathankulam police station in southern Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district for allegedly violating COVID-19 lockdown rules. Three days later, Bennicks died in hospital, followed by Jayaraj’s death the next day. They had allegedly endured hours of beating and torture by police. On September 26, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a chargesheet, booking nine Tamil Nadu police officials for the alleged murder of Jayaraj and Bennicks, among other charges.

This case is just one in an alleged pattern of endemic violence against persons in police custody that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has documented. Over 51 others have died in police custody in the seven months to July 2020, as IndiaSpend reported in July, based on NHRC data. By October 12, NHRC had registered another 16 such cases. Inadequate laws against torture and murder of persons in police custody, and the requirement of prior government sanction to prosecute the police under existing laws, have proved a hurdle in attaining justice, as we reported.

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