Anti-torture law coming...
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COMMENTS 
The Indian government is to bring in an anti-torture law to ratify the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1975. India signed the Convention in October 1997
The Union Cabinet, on April 8, 2010, approved a proposal to ratify the UN Convention against Torture, 13 years after India signed the treaty. The government is set to introduce the Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010 in Parliament, to meet its international obligations.
Some members believe that the proposal is ill-timed as it comes in the wake of the recent massacre of security forces by Maoists in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. However, Prime Minster Manmohan Singh insisted on pushing the legislation through at the earliest, overruling objections that the government would be perceived as insensitive towards the concerns of the security forces.
“After a lot of deliberation on the issue it was decided to bring a piece of ‘stand alone’ legislation so that the Convention could be ratified. Accordingly, a draft Bill, namely the Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010, was drafted,” Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said.
Domestic laws will have to be brought in line with provisions of the Convention, necessitating either an amendment of existing laws such as the Indian Penal Code (IPC) or bringing in a new piece of legislation.
“Although some provisions exist in the IPC, they neither define ‘torture’ as clearly as in Article 1 of the Convention nor make it criminal as called for by Article 4,” states a government press release. The government had earlier attempted to modify the IPC.
“It is an affirmative positive action to prevent cruelty and degradation of human life,” Soni said whilst revealing that the matter had been examined at length in consultation with the Law Commission and the attorney general of India. State governments were also consulted as the matter fell under the concurrent list of the Constitution.
Source: The Economic Times, April 9, 2010
The Telegraph, April 9, 2010