Torture by police is frequent and often deadly in Indian jails

Rajeev Sharma, a young electrician, was sleeping when police barged into his house in the northern Indian city of Meerut a month ago and dragged him out of bed on suspicion of a burglary in the neighbourhood, his family recalled. When his young wife and brother protested, the police, who did not show them an arrest warrant, said they were taking Rajeev to the police station for "routine questioning".

"Little did we know that we would lose him forever," said Sunil Sharma, Rajeev's brother, recounting how he died while in police custody. "Their routine questioning proved fatal," he added, sitting beside his brother's grieving widow.

Rajeev, 28, died at the police station within a day of his detention. Police said he committed suicide, but his family charges that he was beaten and killed.

The case highlights the frequent use of torture and deadly force at local police stations in India, a practice decried by human rights activists and the Indian Supreme Court.

A little more than a decade after Parliament established the National Human Rights Commission to deal with such abuses, police torture continues unabated, according to human rights groups and the Supreme Court.

According to the latest available government data, there were 1,307 reported deaths in police and judicial custody in India in 2002.

"India has the highest number of cases of police torture and custodial deaths among the world's democracies and the weakest law against torture," said Ravi Nair, who heads the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre.

"The police often operate in a climate of impunity, where torture is seen as routine police behaviour to extract confessions from small pickpockets to political suspects."

Colonial laws

He said that laws governing police functions were framed under British colonial rule in 1861 "as an oppressive force designed to keep the population under control".

Police records show that, two weeks before his detention, Rajeev made an electrician's service call at the home of a wealthy businessman. On that day, the man reported that $500 worth of gold jewellery and about $100 in cash were missing, police said.

After Rajeev's detention, his brother called the police station and was told that Rajeev had confessed to the theft, he said. The brother said he and other family members rushed to the station and were able to see Rajeev briefly.

"His eyes were red, his mouth was bleeding and he could hardly walk. They had beaten him very badly. That was the last glimpse we had," said Sunil, 35.

"By the evening, the police informed us that he had committed suicide in the lockup by hanging himself with a blanket. The suicide story is a coverup; my brother died of police torture."

The death in police custody sparked two days of rioting and protests in Meerut, about 45 miles from New Delhi, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Angry residents surrounded and threw stones at the police station, burned police vehicles and blocked traffic. Thousands participated in Rajeev's funeral procession; protesters demanded an open inquest by a panel of physicians and the immediate arrests of those responsible.

Police conducted an autopsy in private, lawyers close to the case said. But authorities did issue arrest warrants for the man who said he had been robbed and for six police officers, an apparent reaction to the unusual popular outcry, family members and lawyers said.

The merchant is in jail, alleged to have participated in beating Rajeev, but the police officers apparently have fled, authorities said.

Although the Indian government signed the international Convention Against Torture in 1997, it has not ratified the document. Some members of Parliament have argued against ratification, saying they oppose international scrutiny and asserting that Indian laws have adequate provisions to prevent torture.

Human rights advocates said Uttar Pradesh ranks highest among Indian states in the incidence of police torture and custodial deaths. Some police officers justify the use of torture to extract confessions and instill fear.

"The police in India are under tremendous pressure, as people need quick results. So we have to pick up and interrogate a lot of people. Sometimes things get out of control," said Raghuraj Singh Chauhan, a newly assigned officer at the station where Rajeev died.

"After all, confessions cannot be extracted with love. The fear of the police has to be kept alive - how else would you reduce crime?" he added, fanning himself with a police file folder.

A senior police officer in Meerut, on condition of anonymity, openly discussed torture methods with a visiting reporter. One technique, he said, involves a two-foot-long rubber belt attached to a wooden handle.

"We call this thing samaj sudharak," the officer said, smiling, using the Hindi phrase for social reformer.

"When we hit with this, there are no fractures, no blood, no major peeling of the skin. It is safe for us, as nothing shows up in the postmortem report. But the pain is such that the person can only appeal to God. He will confess to anything."

© Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service