» Torture main reason of death in police custody: Study Human Rights in Punjab

Torture main reason of death in police custody: Study

In March, the Institute of Correctional Administration (ICA), based in Chandigarh, released a report regarding the prevalence of torture among Punjab Police entitled “Custodial Deaths and Human Rights Commission - an analysis of its role and prevention.”

The report’s author Dr. Upneet Lalli, Deputy Director of the ICA, interviewed 150 police officials for the study. Half of the respondents admit that torture is used in interrogations due to social and political pressures. While torture is cited as the leading cause of death in police custody, only 27 percent of respondents say their colleagues feel bad about its use. The report attributes this attitude to the lack of accountability and “almost total immunity” often enjoyed by police. The report also notes a widespread ignorance of the guidelines issued by the National Human Rights Commission on custody-related issues and the relevant Articles of the Indian Constitution condemning torture. The report further remarks: “There seems to be no clear cut message from the top about intolerance to torture.”

The report has been submitted to the Punjab State Human Rights Commission. More information about the report is available from the Tribune News Service.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 5th, 2007 at 3:08 pm and is filed under Punjab. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments.

2 Comments on “Torture main reason of death in police custody: Study”

Singh Says:
June 5th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
The amount of seva you people are doing is too much to be praised! I am very grateful you guys are putting this out in the open. Why did u stop posting blog entries?
Stephanie Says:
June 26th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
My name is Stephanie and I volunteer with an organization called Survivors of Torture, Intl, which provides services for refugees and asylees in the San Diego area who have escaped torture in their home countries. I read your blog and thought you might be interested in this article:

Torture Survivors Find Help

I hope you find it worth reading and sharing with others, especially today, the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Your blog is great–thanks for spreading awareness of an issue that many don’t know much about.

Stephanie

Survivors of Torture, Intl

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