However, despite these steps, a report noted that from 2001-2020 a total of 1,888 custodial deaths had occurred a total of 893 cases registered and 358 personnel charge-sheeted. The report also noted that only 26 policemen had been convicted in this period. Subsequently, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recorded 88 custodial deaths in 2021 and 75 deaths in 2022.

In 2021, 26 cases were registered against the police for human rights violations, which included extra-judicial killings, torture, illegal detention, and extortion along with deaths in custody with 16 personnel being arrested and 2 being charge-sheeted. There was an increase in this trend in 2022, a total of 30 cases have been registered against the police for human rights violations, with 41 personnel arrested and 24 charge-sheeted.

As per NCRB data, there has been a total of 275 cases of custodial rapes from 2017 to 2022; there seems to be a gradual decrease in the trend with 24 cases of custodial rape registered in 2022 as against 89 cases in 2017.

Of the 24 cases registered in 2022, seven are attributed to police personnel, three to armed forces, 12 to staff of jails and remand homes and one each to public servants and hospital staff. These are the statistics provided by the NCRB and include only cases where an FIR was registered. The reality is that most cases of police atrocity go unreported.

The Supreme Court once said: “Bound as they are by the ties of brotherhood, it is not unknown that the police personnel prefer to remain silent and more often than not even pervert the truth to save their colleagues.”

In 1992, in a shocking case of violence, a man picked up on the suspicion of being a thief was brutally tortured and died in custody while his wife was stripped and gang raped before him. The woman, a sweeper, ran from pillar to post seeking assistance but was up against an uncooperative criminal justice system. It was only after the intervention of the Madras high court and the transfer of the case to the CID did the investigation progressed. While framing the charges, the charge of murder was dropped and only charges pertaining to wrongful confinement, assault and custodial rape survived. The conviction of the police personnel for gang rape was sustained by all three courts.

The Supreme Court in an appeal in this case (Mehboob Batcha & Ors v State) lamented the lack of a murder charge in the case, while quoting the judgment in Justice DK Basu noted, “Experience shows that worst violations of human rights take place during the course of investigation when the police with a view to secure evidence or confession often resorts to third-degree methods including torture and adopts techniques of screening arrest by either not recording the arrest or describing the deprivation of liberty merely as a prolonged interrogation.”

This is a rare case where the police personnel were convicted.

In most cases, FIRs once registered are put in the cold storage. The nature of the offence, lack of evidence and the confusing labyrinth of the criminal justice system make it very difficult for someone wanting to fight the system.

Last year, the Delhi High Court in Pradeep Kumar v. State of UP, upheld the conviction of police personnel in a case of custodial death. The incident took place in 2006 in Uttar Pradesh.

The complainant was informed by the police that his son had committed suicide in custody. Suspecting foul play the father began his fight for justice. The case was transferred to Delhi in 2011 by the Supreme Court due to the influence exerted by the police in Uttar Pradesh, making a free and fair trial an impossibility. While initially a charge of murder was framed, the Court on examination of the evidence concluded that an intent to kill was not present and modified the charge to culpable homicide not amounting to murder and convicted the personnel in 2019 and sentenced them to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. The conviction was upheld by the Delhi High Court in 2023. Thus, it took 13 years for the legal process to convict the errant officials.

In March 2024, while reversing the bail granted to a police constable accused of being party to violence, the Supreme Court noted that a stricter approach needed to be applied while deciding cases of police personnel accused of custodial violence.

Custodial violence is a deep-rooted problem and requires a multifaceted approach. Mere changes in the law or procedures will be redundant if reforms in the policing system are not undertaken. The errant officials need to be held accountable, with a fair and speedy investigation and trial.

The Indian police still reel under a colonial hangover where its focus seems to be more on ruling over the citizens rather than serving them in their pursuit of justice. Only when the police realise that they are bound by the law and not a law unto themselves can there be any reform.

Parijata Bharadwaj, a lawyer and researcher based in New Delhi, co-founded the Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group that offered legal services to adivasis in Chhattisgarh. The views expressed are personal.