A UN-supported poll in 19 countries revealed that India has the most number of people supporting torture of terror suspects by the State. Which may explain why a report by the Asian Centre for Human Rights, released the same week, said torture in India by the police and security agencies is widespread and endemic

A majority of Indians surveyed support the use of torture against terror suspects, according to a United Nations-supported global public opinion poll.

Around 59% of Indians -- the highest number -- said it was permissible for State authorities to use torture and other means of physical intimidation against those suspected of terrorist activities on grounds that the information they may have would save innocent lives.

Twelve per cent of Indians also supported the use of violence against law-breakers in general. Only 28% favoured an unconditional ban on torture by the State.

The survey was carried out by WorldPublicOpinion.org in a collaborative project involving a worldwide network of research centres under the management of the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. It was released by the UN to mark International Torture of Victims Day, on June 25, 2008.

In the last poll PIPA conducted on the same subject two years ago, 32% of Indians supported torture, an increase of 27% this year.

The survey was conducted in 19 countries. Apart from India, respondents in just four other countries -- Nigeria (54%), Turkey (51%), Thailand (44%), South Korea (51%) -- showed similar support for torture by the State. In Spain, Britain and France, more than 80% of those polled wanted a complete ban on torture. 

The many terror attacks in different parts of India in the last few years may be responsible for the tolerance for torture, according to experts.

India is a signatory to the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that no one shall be subjected to torture. In October 1997, India also signed the Convention Against Torture, though it has not yet ratified it.

The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) estimates that about four people have died or been killed in police custody every day in India between 2002 and 2007, a large number tortured to death. An equal number of people are killed in the custody of the army in insurgency-hit areas. Many cases go unreported and the guilty go unpunished, the ACHR says in its report, ‘Torture in India 2008: A State of Denial', released on June 25, 2008.

“Hundreds are killed, dozens are paid compensation, but only three to four persons are convicted each year,” Suhas Chakma of the ACHR said. “India is in a worrying state of denial about torture.”

The report says there is no accurate data on the use of torture in India. The country's apex human rights body, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), produces figures on custodial deaths but does not record cases of torture that do not result in death. Nor does it differentiate between deaths due to legitimate causes such as old age, and deaths as a result of torture. Over the years, the NHRC has not used its powers, including the power to conduct investigations, effectively against torture.

The report recommends two clear steps for the eradication of torture: enactment of a national law against torture and ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Torture. ‘The government's position on adopting a national law against torture is at best unclear. India has not ratified the UN Convention Against Torture despite a commitment to do so while signing the same in 1997. To its credit, India has found the will to enact legal protections against torture of persons belonging to vulnerable groups like women, children, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. But it is unclear why or how these laws will be meaningfully implemented when torture remains an acceptable operational practice of the law-enforcement personnel.'

The report is very critical of the virtual impunity given to security forces that commit human rights abuses in insurgency-prone areas. ‘Impunity creates a dangerous perception among the security forces that they are above the law… The implications of impunity for the health of India's democracy and its rule of law go beyond individual cases of abuse.'

The report says a reform of India's archaic and colonial criminal and penal laws is urgently needed. ‘Arguing for reform is not particularly contentious, indeed there is widespread acceptance at least in the domain of the police and prison service of its need. Yet a reform process has not happened despite establishment of repeated commissions and their endless recommendations.'

The ACHR says India needs to probe all suspected torture deaths. It also accused India's Maoists, who say they are fighting for poor farmers in the country, of a poor human rights record.

Source: Hindustan Times , June 26, 2008
             ACHR report at http://www.achrweb.org/
             reports /india/torture2008.pdf