“Injustice anywhere is threat to justice everywhere.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King (Jr.)
“The boy was made to die bit by bit, writhing in pain like a ‘halal’ animal. It has shaken the conscience of the entire society.”
– Rajender Kumar, Additional Sessions Judge
Custodial death is one of the worst crimes in a civilized society governed by the Rule of Law that guarantees the right to life and liberty, the most fundamental of human rights. However, instances of torture and using third degree methods upon suspects during illegal detention and police remand have become quite common everywhere. Use of excessive force by police, far exceeding their lawful authority, usually causes custodial death. Torture of suspects during police custody is a crime; causing death by beating in police custody is a much more heinous crime. Sadly, when the police who are supposed to protect the life and liberty of the citizen behave inhumanly with scant regard to the rule of law, it encourages lawlessness within the society and breeds contempt for law.
The number of custodial deaths show an unusual increase when the law enforcing agencies use repressive measures to control militancy, political unrest and terrorism.
The problem with custodial deaths is that very little evidence is left behind to prove the criminality in a court of law. Only in very few cases the family members of those killed in custody dare to seek justice fearing harassment and vendetta from the law enforcing agencies, besides shielding the culprits and destruction of evidence by the agencies involved and the inordinate delay in the process of justice.
In this context, an unprecedented order by a Delhi court this Friday (December 15, 2006) awarding capital punishment to a senior police officer for the custodial death of a petty criminal stunningly upholds the rule of law and sends a clear message to all law enforcing agencies.
Holding that the murder of a young man at a police station in east Delhi 19 years ago “fell in the category of rarest of rare cases”, the additional sessions judge said, “Torture by a law-enforcing agency is like cancer in the blood… a murder by a police officer, and that too of a victim in his custody, should be dealt with seriously.”
The court observed that the crime committed by RP Tyagi, who retired as an Assistant Commissioner of Police, was an “extremity of outrageousness” and deserved death by hanging. The judge said that this would “serve as a deterrent for other such public servants of this armed force duty-bound to protect the life and liberty of subjects.”
Two of his colleagues were sentenced to lesser punishments of rigorous imprisonment up to three years for shielding Tyagi and for destroying evidence.
The incident dates back to August, 1987 when Tyagi, then a junior police officer, was posted to oversee the late night revelries of a Hindu festival in the eastern suburbs of Delhi. He received information that two assailants tried to rob someone at knife-point in a nearby area. When Tyagi tried to nab them, the assailants knifed the police officer and escaped. This infuriated Tyagi and drove him to launch a manhunt. In a bid to force their surrender, Tyagi and his men rounded up and thrashed the relatives and the friends of the accused. The high-handedness paid off as Mahender and Ram (the accused) surrendered before the police within a week.
The judgment records that in the course of their interrogation in custody, Tyagi subjected the two to brutal torture as they were repeatedly beaten with iron rods. Mahender succumbed to his multiple injuries in a hospital. The second accused, Ram, was killed later in another encounter with the police in a nearby town.
A complaint was lodged by Mahender’s father, Tika Ram, alleging that his son was beaten with iron rods and that the police prepared false case diaries and medico-legal certificates regarding the cause of death. Tika Ram died in the course of the 19-year long trial. Faced with the resistance from the police to book their own colleagues, the victim’s family had to move a city court for the registration of the case and for transfer of its investigation to the crime branch of Delhi police. Meanwhile, Tyagi eventually retired after rising in the ranks of the hierarchy, when his nemesis finally caught him.
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Comments: 77
Fred – I note that you are from Pretoria, South Africa. It is a sad observation that the swamped legal system gives an excuse for the police to hold under-trials in custody for a prolonged period.
REading Fred's comment, my son was held in detention for six months before his trial (he was found innocent)..... I cannot imagine three years!
Your article was very enlightening. I suppose I thought the abuse that happens in American jails or prisons were more or less the norm. The local news constantly has articles concerning "suicides" and etc. by prisoners, not local in particular, but all over the U.S.
There are rumors of mistreatment of prisoners in other countries, but they seldom reach the media over here. Thank you for making us more aware of this situation.
And for somebody who refuses to call himself a writer, I think you do a great job, Dolphi. Even your comments are little masterpieces of coherency! :)
Ashish – Congratulations! I am glad that your "hi" is a superhit. The pouting face of a naughty child as your icon is an eye-catcher. The casual use of language has a counter-weighing effect on the excessively serious proponents of the language usage, and works to restore some sanity. Moreover, simplicity is an appeal in itself. Good luck!
The issues you raise are serious in any nation or society.
These abuses continue until people demand that everyone who has power over another is monitored in some way.
In this country, statistics show that injuries and deaths in police custody are reduced whee there are Civilian Review Boards.
The same is true where prison systems have meaningful oversight.
Thanks for reminding us of the brutality that can lurk behind many institutions of public order.
Thanks for the article, it was well written, informative, and sad but true
Lisa – It is the helplessness of the victims and the lack of concern by the outside world that makes people behind the bars the most vulnerable.
Thank you for this well written articles. I enjoy stories and articles written from India. I have not returned since my mother's passing in 2000. Here in America police abuse is quite common. Amateur videos caught through cell phones have brought to attention several police brutality cases. Looks like this may be a new weapon to document clearly such abuses.
Cheers
Jai
Paul, I read your entry submitted to the "First Chapters" contest. It is impressive. Thanks for visiting this page and commenting.
How can there be any justification when someone is in handcuffs or behind bars unarmed. If there is such a thing evil, killing someone in custody is evidence of it.
A very well-written article indeed!
You asked me where do certain articles or images go for my groups...
Well I have decided to go through every one of your artciles and images and I will let you know if they belong in which group with a statement at the end of this comment...
If you have not yet already submitted this to my group called: "C" ~ Articles/Images That Start with the letter "C" (All subjects matter allowed...). Please do so...
Your pages are packed with wisdom. I love your picture of the dolphin.
Kate – Thanks for your appreciative comment.
Dolphi, again, this is an incredible example by you of a first-rate article. Well done!
Some people have more 'rights' than others in India. I think once we objectify people, whoever they are, and 'classify them' into a separate group, we can visit atrocities/injustices upon them without concern. Its treating a person as an inanimate object....therefore, any treatment is "ok." We all must remain wary of this trap...
Dolphi, I commend you on 'less is better' writing....re: your comment above about research first, then write :-)
In America we like to present a different image than is reality. While life in India is very harsh, I liked the reality of the place. Here, we deal continually in vagueness. Moral superiority without corresponding actions. Hence, so much confusion and mental distress by so many....with a much easier existance than India, eh?
I learned a lot about life in Varanasi (Benares if all the city names are going back to originals ;-) While I tend towards Tibetan Buddhist thought, the Hindus there taught me that their gods simply reflect the many varied aspects of human nature....good and bad. By facing, up front, these natures; people are either very good or very bad behaving....without much guilt or remorse.
Which is worse? The devil you know, or the one you do not? (i.e. the one that looks good, but isn't really) Hypocrisy is our worst dis-ease in America right now. So while you see and report on these injustices; remember we must find ways to 'cure' the illness, not treat the symptoms. Otherwise the clever, and not-so nice, will just find ways to hide thier abuses better.....then, the change is much worse, because the perception is that everything is Ok when it is truly rotten. Its better to face reality upfront, then to get blindsided by trusting a flawed character. Yes?
Patrick – Nice to see you here. Your acquaintance with both the Eastern and the Western ways of life and the life conditions gives you better insight into the prevalent miseries and the elusive nature of happiness. No wonder you are drawn towards Buddhist thought.