Major judgements by the Supreme Court on police violence and custodial deaths.
Case 1
Radul Shah Vs State of Bihar 1983
In this the petitioner was illegally kept in jail for 14 years. A writ of habeas corpus was filed demanding the immediately release of the person. This case is important because the supreme court realised for the first time that if the constitutional right of any person is violated by the state then he is able to get compensation from the state.
Case 2
Saheli Vs Commissioner of police 1989
In this case the police along with the zamindar misbehaves with the tenant mother and her child, Due to which the child dies supreme Court awards a compensation of 75000 to the mother.
This case is important because the supreme court had given the authority to the Delhi Commission to claim the value from the police.
Case 3
Nilabati Behera Vs State of Orissa 1993.
In this case Sumil Behera the person who was arrested by the police. His body was recovered on the next day beside the railway tracks with multiple injuries. In this case the petitioner was rewarded with a compensation of I75000. So in the earlier two cases we get to know that Supreme Court does not follow any specific criteria while awarding compensation. It is decided on the facts of every case that how much compensation is to be rewarded.
Case 4
Joginder Singh Vs State of UP 1994
In this case the supreme court mentioned that if any arrest and detention is done without any reason or specific cause then that arrest or detention will be deemed to be illegal. The supreme court had mentioned that police officers have a power to arrest a person but that police officer is not given the power to misuse it, therefore there has to be a reasonable justification behind the arrest.
Now coming to the most important case of custodial violence:-
Case 5
D.K. Basu Vs State of West Bengal 1997
In this case the supreme court recognising the custodial violence and police torture mentioned that
1. Custodial violence is a attack to the human dignity.
2. In spite of various recommendations and Reforms a spike in the custodial deaths.
So 11 guidelines were given in this case which every Police office have to follow while arrest and the 11 guidelines is available for any citizen of India.
1. The police personnel should carry clear identification and name tags with their designations.
2. Arrest memo has to be maintained in which every minute details relating to the arrest has to be mentioned.
3. Other person should know about his arrest.
4. The inspection memo has to be signed by both the police and the arreste, and the arreste will be given a copy of the same.
5. After the arrest the arrested person has to go through a medical examination in intervals of 48 hours.
6. The copies of all the all the documents have to be sent to the magistrate for the record.
7. At the time of interrogation they arrested person has the right to consult with his lawyer.
8. There has to be a police control room in every state and districts. Get all the information relating to the arrest has to reach in that control room in intervals of 12 hours.
But in spite of all this guidelines given in the above case law there are various instances of custodial violence.
I remember when this topic was being discussed in my college then barriers people had this opinion that truth cannot be revealed without torture, and some other people had the opinion that if the torchbearer of the law use torture it is not acceptable. Now tell me in the comments box what are your views about the same.
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