A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court of India, seeking elaborate guidelines to ensure prevention of custodial torture in reference to the horrific custodial death of father-son duo Jayaraj and Bennix in Tamil Nadu.
In reference to the recent case in State of Tamil Nadu, the writ petition in public interest is filed which“underlines afresh the urgent need for institutional correctives within the policing system in this country and the acute need for India to enact a strong law to prohibit and prosecute cases of torture and custodial deaths, in fulfilment of its legal obligations, both national and international, to guarantee protection to right to life”.
Advocate Mr. Devesh Saxena, Secretary, Legal Cell,People’s Charioteer Organization (PCO) filed the petition and says that “we failed to eliminate the colonial attitude of our police”.
Petitioner states that custodial torture is continuing unabated, despite the guidelines of the SC in the DK Basu case.
Plea in case of custodial deaths stated,
“…there are gaping legal lacunae in the legal, legislative and statutory framework of India, owing to which thewe’re witnessing a prevailing epidemic of Custodial Violence/Rapes/Torture, at the hands of certain our men in uniforms, which equates to nothing but a blatant violation and mockery of Human Rights, legitimized, facilitated and perpetrated by the State Machinery.”
Lack of implementation of the guidelines passed by Apex Court in cases of Prakash Singh v. Union of India (2006 8 SCC 1)and D. K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1997) 1 SCC 416 has been stated by the petitioner.
The petitioner in this backdrop wants in exercise of the plenary and inherent power of the Supreme Court, under Article 142 of the Constitution of India to intend for issuance and laying down of guidelines for custodial death to fill the gaping lacunae in the Indian Legal System, and for ensuring an effective and purposeful framework and its enforcement to fulfil the constitutional obligation of ensuring and securing the right to life and to live with human dignity and the prevention of custodial torture/deaths/rapes.
Prayer for a direction, to the Central Government to form an Independent Committee monitored by the Supreme Court, having members from all the relevant departments/ministries to review the entire legal framework and find pitfalls in the existing legal frameworkwith the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court, with due regard to the recommendations of the Law Commission(s) and the International Legal Regime in order to curb the menace of custodial torture/deaths/rapes.
Advocate Shashwat Anand drew the petition.
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