SC guidelines on custody torture

The Supreme Court has called for empowering the Human Rights Commission or the CBI to investigate complaints against police personnel of cus...

The Supreme Court has called for empowering the Human Rights Commission or the CBI to investigate complaints against police personnel of custodial violence. In a set of six guidelines, a three-judge bench of Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justices B N Srikrishna and R V Raveendran said that 8216;8216;An independent investigating agency, preferably the respective human rights commissions or the CBI8217;8217; should be given 8216;8216;adequate powers8217;8217; to investigate such cases and 8216;8216;take stern action followed by prosecution wherever necessary8217;8217;.

The apex bench also said that police training should be re-oriented, to bring in a change in the mindset and attitude of police personnel in regard to investigations, so that they would recognise and respect human rights and adopt thorough and scientific investigation methods.

The bench has also called for a 8216;8216;continuous8217;8217; monitoring of lower-level police officers by their superiors so that they adhere to 8216;8216;lawful standard methods of investigation8217;8217;. It said 8216;8216;simple and fool-proof procedures8217;8217; should be introduced for the 8216;8216;prompt registration of First Information Reports8217;8217; FIRs and has called for the introduction of 8216;8216;modern methods of record maintenance8217;8217;, like computerisation and video recording, to prevent 8216;8216;manipulations8217;8217; of FIRs, post-mortem reports, witness-statements and other records and data.

The apex court also directed that the requirements settled earlier in the D K Basu case should be ensured in all cases of arrest and detention. In the Basu case, the Supreme Court had forbidden midnight arrests except in rarest of the rare cases and, in the event of an arrest, had made it mandatory to inform a close relative of the person arrested as well as to allow the arrested the assistance of a lawyer. It had also said that the arrested should be produced before the nearest magistrate at the earliest.

The instant case came vide a writ petition from one Sube Singh of Haryana alleging 8216;8216;illegal detention, custodial torture and harassment to family members8217;8217;. In the instant case, however, the court came to the conclusion that there was no 8216;8216;clear or incontrovertible evidence about custodial torture8217;8217; and pointed out that a CBI inquiry had already been ordered. The court also said that its judgment 8216;8216;will not come in the way of any civil court awarding compensation8217;8217; to the complainant in future.

Notice issued over 38-yr custody case

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today took suo motu cognizance of 70-year-old Jagjivan Ram Yadav, languishing in Faizabad jail in Uttar Pradesh for about 38 years now, and issued notices to the state government and the registrar general of the Allahabad High Court. A division bench of Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal and Justice C K Thakker issued the notices on the basis of newspaper reports that Yadav, arrested in 1968 for allegedly killing his neighbour8217;s wife, could not even be granted bail as the police could not trace the records relating to the case. The apex bench said that the matter was serious and asked state officials to reply on the status of the case.