Custodial deaths: State ranked second place

Fifty-three-year-old Bandappa, resident of Gandhinagar-Valmikinagar, had an argument with a policeman during Bonalu celebrations in Secunderabad three years ago. He was arrested and made to stay the night at Marredpally police station. He was released the next day but his health deteriorated. He was taken to Gandhi Hospital by his family but died on the way.Gandappa’s was one of seven deaths in police custody in Telangana state in 2017. TS is second only to Maharashtra, which holds the shameful record of having the most custodial deaths.

In Gandappa’s case an enraged family and public ransacked Marredpally police station and set it on fire and caused enough mayhem for the Rapid Action Force to be called in. But many cases get very little public or media attention and the perpetrators get away with murder. The CBI court in Kerala was the first to sentence policemen to death for custodial deaths. Third degree or torture used on suspects to get them to confess to the crime is what causes the deaths.‘Third degree’ as it is commonly called, includes beating the suspect on the soles of his feet with rubber truncheons; hitting the knees, elbows, buttocks, ankles, palms, in fact, any part of the body that is sensitive, taking care to ensure that no marks are visible. In some cases it was found that suspects are strung up by their thumbs on metal hooks fixed to the roof .

Human rights activist and lawyer Jaipal Singh says deaths in police custody “are usually the result of torture to extort information or to teach the person concerned a lesson. After an arrest is made and the person produced before a judicial magistrate within 24 hours, the police can ask to detain him longer for interrogation. And this is the crucial period for extorting information.”

A report by the National Human Rights Commission said that of the 74 deaths in police custody in 2017, Maharashtra leads the table with 16 deaths recorded until August 2, 2017. 

TS comes a distant second with seven deaths, while Karnataka recorded the third highest, five deaths. Until July 25, 2018, no police officer has been prosecuted for custodial death. The order of the CBI court in Kerala to hang two policemen is the first.

P. Vamsi, a human rights activist said, “The trouble is that action has not been taken against most policemen responsible for these deaths. Only a few have been transferred or suspended. In the absence of any accountability, it is hardly surprising that the police inspector, also drunk with power, goes to the extent of beating a person or shooting him to death merely because his ego has been hurt.”

Information on custodial deaths is hard to come by since the police, the only witnesses, are hardly likely to expose this horror. In fact, police authorities in all states refuse to give any details on deaths in police custody.