Ashwani Kumar to head select committee to examine Torture Bill

The Bill provides up to ten years of imprisonment to public servants responsible for torturing any person to get information or other purposes.

The Bill is a stand-alone legislation which defines ‘torture’ and provides for punishment to those involved.

India had signed the UN Convention against Torture,Cruel,Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 1997,which required enabling a legislation to be adopted to reflect the definition and punishment for torture.

The Bill,already passed by Lok Sabha,has been recently referred to the Select Committee of Parliament following demands from some members in the Rajya Sabha.

Other members of the Committee are E M Sudarsana

Natchiappan,Shantaram Laxman Naik,Vijaylaxmi Sadho,

Janardhan Waghmare,S S Ahluwalia,Kalraj Mishra,Maya Singh,Naresh Gujral,Brinda Karat,Satish Chandra Misra,Ahmad Saeed Malihabadi and Ashok S Ganguly.