A shameful Indian torture record

by rahul | July 1, 2008 at 04:39 am

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According to a recent report by New Delhi based NGO, ACHR, India has a shameful record of torture activities. According to local Indian newspapers, death in custody in rather alarming. This is a most worrying report as India is the largest democracy in the world. It is also the birth place of important ideas on tolerance and non violence that came out of Jainism, Buddhism and secular Hinduism.

India hurt by torture claims
By Neeta Lal

DELHI - A recently released report titled "Torture in India 2008: A State of Denial" - the first-ever nationwide assessment on the use of torture in the world's largest democracy - by the Hong Kong (si)-based Asian Center for Human Rights (ACHR) contains disconcerting facts about the blatant and widespread use of the practice by Indian authorities in prisons and police custody.

The ACHR report found that 7,468 persons, or an average of 1,494 persons per year (four persons daily), have died or been killed in Indian prisons and police custody during the period 2002 to 2007. An equal number of persons, if not more, have been killed in the custody of the army, central armed forces and states' paramilitary forces in insurgency-ravaged areas, according to the report. Worse, a large number of these deaths are allegedly triggered by torture.

"Hundreds are killed, dozens are paid compensation but only three to four persons are convicted each year," stated Suhas Chakma, director of ACHR

Related Sources: The Hindu, The Tribune,