CHENNAI: Ninety-one per cent of the police personnel in Tamil Nadu are likely to “highly or moderately” support the view that “custodial torture is sometimes necessary and acceptable to gain information” during investigation, as per the Status of Policing in India Report (SPIR) 2025 compiled based on detailed interviews with 8,276 cops of different ranks from 16 states and Delhi.
In the wake of the recent alleged custodial killing of B Ajithkumar (27) in Sivaganga district, the report, brought out by Lokniti - Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in collaboration with Common Cause on March 31, showed that TN police have higher propensity to resort to extra-judicial methods than most other states.
91% of cops in TN who “highly (56%) or moderately (35%)” support custodial torture sometimes were the highest, followed by Rajasthan (90%). The remaining nine per cent in TN expressed “low or very low” support.
However, in terms of those who “highly” supported this view, TN ranked second (56%) after Gujarat (63%).
Kerala supports lawful policing
As per the report, Gujarat performed poorly on most parameters, while Kerala was at the other end of the spectrum, with interviewees there more inclined to follow legal procedures. For instance, only 11% of cops in Kerala expressed “high or moderate” support to torture. TN cops (87%) found “special squads that can detain people indefinitely” to be “very” or “somewhat” useful as a measure to reduce crime. It was one such “special team” that allegedly tortured Ajithkumar, leading to his death.
After the incident, Director General of Police/Head of Police Force Shankar Jiwal ordered for disbanding any such special teams, unless approved by the zonal IGs or the Commissioners of Police (for cities).
In TN, 45% of police felt it was more important to solve a case “by any means rather than strictly following legal procedures”, while 53% felt it was always important to follow the legal procedures. (The rest two per cent did not respond to this question).
The report, which threw light on the influence of public perception, said 37% of TN cops felt public pressure to a “great extent” in treating suspected criminals with a “heavy hand”. Moreover, 46% justified mobs punishing suspects in cases of sexual harassment or kidnapping of children “to a great extent”.
The survey showed that there wasn’t a wide difference between the constabulary or IPS officers in the attitude towards extra-judicial measures, while those in the upper subordinate ranks showed relatively lesser inclination. In fact, IPS officers showed highest propensity to justify torture (34%), followed by the constabulary (32%).
Only 35% in TN responded “always” to the question on the likelihood of all arrest procedures being properly followed. Another 50% said “sometimes” and 15% said “rarely or never”. The survey, which also tried to capture institutional bias, showed that 44% of TN police felt Dalits are naturally prone to “great or some extent” to commit crimes.
Anoop Jaiswal, former DGP from TN, told TNIE that in India “police interrogation” invariably meant “roughing up” a suspect, which is not just illegal but criminal.
Highlighting that the urgency to close cases swiftly by making suspects confess or recover stolen property was the key reason for custodial violence, Jaiswal said, “Police should not commit bigger crimes to solve smaller crimes.” He stressed that officers at all levels, and not just in subordinate ranks, should undergo sensitisation programmes.
Meeran Chadha Borwankar, former DGP from Maharashtra, who served as DG of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), responding to a set of findings shared with her by TNIE, raised doubts about the survey methodology as certain findings like TN police being more prone to adopting “any means” to solve a case and IPS officers showing high propensity to justify torture did not seem correct.
However, on the need for reforms, she said the basic and in-service training must have high emphasis on Constitution and human rights.
She added that prompt action against deviant behaviour showed good results.
While underlining that a well-resourced, trained and prompt criminal justice system will not have such violations, encounter killings in particular, she asked, “The pertinent question is – are we ready to invest in it?”