The practice of torture persists in various forms in many nations. Recently, the abhorrent practice of custodial torture has been brought to the fore with the incidents of George Floyd in the United States of America, and Jayaraj and Bennix in India. In Singapore, a British schoolboy was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment and subjected to caning. In the past decade, Maldives had become notorious for flogging its abused and raped women on charges of adultery. In Aceh, a female flogging squad was constituted in order to punish the women flouting Islamic Law. The domain of criminal justice system is infiltrated with such shameful practices in the name of punishment and investigation. Such brutal practices should find no scope in the criminal justice system as they are dehumanizing and stand in explicit violation of the fundamental human rights. They fall in the gamut of torturous activities which are prohibited in the domain of international law. Yet, India has failed to implement a comprehensive regime to confront this pernicious issue. International Conventions and the Indian ScenarioĬommitting torture is a grave breach of humanitarian law. Article 1 of the UNCAT identifies three elements which constitute torture –ġ. Intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering Ģ.ğor a specific purpose, such as to obtain information, as punishment, or to intimidate, or for any reason based on discrimination ģ.ěy or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of State authorities. The Human Rights Commission (HRC) has extensively appraised the issue that whether a particular treatment constitutes a violation of Article 7 of the ICCPR. The HRC held that it would fundamentally depend on all the circumstances of the case. Further, Article 10 of the Covenant prohibits torture and ill-treatment. These practices harm the physical and mental integrity of an individual and expose them to pain, community degradation and humiliation. India has been a signatory to UNCAT since 1997, but it remains one of the nine countries in the world which have not ratified this Convention.
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