Freedom From Brutal Custodial Torture of Police In INDIA

Freedom From Brutal Custodial Torture of Police In INDIA ============================================= According to a recent report on human rights in India, a study of 47 districts over a period of more than two years shows that on an average 1.8 million people are victims of police torture and violence in India every year. 1800000 - Every Two Years 2448 - Per Day 102 - Per Hour 1.7 - Per Minute Data released by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which reported an average of 43 deaths in police or prison custody every day in the decade 2001 to 2010. These figures represent only a fraction of the actual number of deaths in custody as they reflect only the cases registered. "Common methods of torture in Kashmir and the North-East include assault, placement of an iron rod on the legs on which many people sit, placement of a burning stove between the legs and administration of electric shocks to the genitals," A recent case that has caused a lot of international uproar involves the brutal custodial torture of Soni Sori, a 35-year-old adivasi teacher in a government-run school for tribal children in Dantewada, at the hands of the Chhatisgarh police. "She said that she was pulled out of her cell at the Dantewada Police Station on the intervening night of October 8 and 9, 2011 and then taken to SP Ankit Garg's room, where on his orders, three men stripped her, gave her electric shocks and inserted stones into her private parts, making her lose consciousness. ...A few months later, SP Ankit Garg, far from being questioned for his role in the Soni Sori case, was awarded a Police Medal for Gallantry by the government for his role in a counter-insurgency operation in 2010," India does not have a domestic law to address torture and has not ratified the UN Convention Against Torture (1984). A couple of years ago, the Prevention of Torture Bill was drafted and cleared by the Lok Sabha, but it had so many loopholes that human rights activists launched a campaign in protest. The bill was withdrawn and a new one was drafted. The revised bill is now stuck in some dark corner of a deep freezer. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/43-die-in-police-custody-daily-UN-study/articleshow/14445020.cms?