To say the nation was shocked when media reported details of the postmortem of the Unnao rape victim’s father would be an understatement. Proof that this is not limited to a region came with the death of a Keralite youth, Sreejith, after allegedly being tortured while in police custody. National Crime Records Bureau data shows between 2000 and 2016, as many as 1,022 custodial deaths were reported. However, FIRs were filed in only 428 case, and chargesheets only in 234 cases. Only 24 police officers have been convicted so far. Torture of persons in police custody is arguably India’s worst kept secret. It permeates our popular imagination and as a result our popular culture as well.
As a society we rarely stand together against such police abuses unless the targets involve ‘people like us’. This could perhaps be tied with the uncritical faith we have in institutions exercising force in the name of our safety and security. However, too much power is never a good thing. Power must be challenged and held to account. Experts argue that these abuses are a result of poor training and poor compliance to strictures of the law. Too often the police choose to depend on ‘confessions’ rather than holistic investigation to support their cases before the courts.
This lack of rigour also reveals itself in the low conviction rates for crimes across the board. Some cops also seem to take the line of being investigator, judge and jury—taking the law into their own hands for the ‘greater good’. This is a line of thought often valorised in films that ought to be critiqued. Custodial torture happens because more often than not it is normalised behaviour that offenders get away with. It exists on a sliding scale of abuses such as extrajudicial killings. While the men and women in uniform need to introspect whose interests are served when those meant to be protected are most harmed, society at large needs to hold such institutions to greater account instead of tolerating violation of rights in the name of security and safety