Aug
22
Human Rights Commission: 80% of Complaints are about Police
August 22, 2005 | Comments Off on Human Rights Commission: 80% of Complaints are about Police
A delegation of the Punjab State Human Rights Commission stated that 80% of the complaints received by the Commission concern police abuses:
Justice Anand [the Chairperson] said Punjab police personnel were the main violators of human rights in the state and should urgently amend themselves.
‘‘The regular occurrence of incident of custodial violence, rape and deaths, apart from illegal detaining and torture, is a black spot on the face of the police,’’ he said.
Human rights reports and reports by the U.S. Department of State corroborate the frequency of custodial torture. The 2004 State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices in India states:
The prevalence of torture by police in detention facilities throughout the country was reflected in the number of cases of deaths in police custody (see Section 1.a.). Police and jailers typically assaulted new prisoners for money and personal articles. In addition, police commonly tortured detainees during custodial interrogation. Although police officers were subject to prosecution for such offenses under the Penal Code, the Government often failed to hold them accountable. According to AI [Amnesty International], torture usually took place during criminal investigations and following unlawful and arbitrary arrests.
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