Status of Policing in India Report 2025: police torture and (un)accountability
FOCUS
This report was published in March 2025 by Common Cause, New Delhi, and Lokniti, a research programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi.
The report presents a detailed status of police high-handedness, torture and custodial violence in India. The study aims to understand the pattern of policing in India through their everyday functions of detention, investigation, arrests and interrogation. The report offers insights for policy and advocacy necessary for further supporting research on prevention of torture and excesses prevalent in Indian criminal justice system.
The study employed several research methodologies from survey of police personnel, analysis of trends and patterns, to in-depth interviews with judges, lawyers and doctors. The survey spans 16 states and the national capital covering 8,276 police personnel of varying ranks from 82 different locations including police stations, police lines and courts.
The 218-page document is divided into 10 chapters: Torture and Police High-handedness, the Context (Chapter 1); Features of Torture in India: Mapping Through Literature (Chapter 2); Law, Order and Society: Police Perceptions and Propensities to Violence (Chapter 3); Police Perceptions of the Criminal Justice System (Chapter 4); Arrest, Interrogation and Investigation: Legality versus Reality (Chapter 5); Justifying Violence and Torture in Custody (Chapter 6); Accountability for Torture: Practices, Challenges and Possibilities (Chapter 7); Police Accountability and Safeguards against Torture: Perspectives of Lawyers, Judges, Doctors (Chapter 8); Police Torture and Violence in Official Records: Trends and Gaps (Chapter 9); Conclusion (Chapter 10).
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The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) provides regular reliable data on crimes in India but falls short on the police torture and human rights violation indicators, the report notes.
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As per the NCRB data, not a single police officer has been convicted for the 1,107 police custody deaths reported between 2011 and 2022.
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India remains one of few countries that is yet to implement the UN Convention Against Torture (UNCAT) adopted by UN general body in 1984.
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The study reveals that a large proportion of the police respondents consider themselves as primary enforcers of justice. This belief justifies their extra judicial measures over due process and systemic checks. A concerning 71 per cent of the police respondents in the survey agreed that they should be able to use force without any fear of punishment
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The National Campaign Against Torture document released in 2019 revealed that out of the 124 deaths reported in police custody, 60 per cent of the victims were from marginalized communities like Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims working as labourers, security guards, rag-pickers, and drivers.
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The survey revealed that 64 per cent of police personnel felt enhancing police infrastructure will be effective in crime control. And 58 per cent felt increasing the number of female police personnel would be another significant measure in crime control.
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The report notes that 79 per cent of the police personnel believed that training on human rights is important and 71 per cent agreed that training on prevention of torture is important.
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The study found considerable variations across states such as in Gujarat 63 per cent of police respondents agreed that torture is acceptable and necessary for solving various crimes, against only 3 per cent of the respondents in Kerala.
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The report recommends strengthening institutional safeguards and enhancing judicial oversight that can address the cases of police torture.
Focus and Factoids by Aditya Prem Kumar.
FACTOIDS
AUTHOR
Common Cause and Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS)
COPYRIGHT
Common Cause and Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS)
PUBLICATION DATE
20 Mar, 2025