SC asks centre to implement strong anti-torture law

Identifying the disappointing fact that the central government, which is one of the signatories of the UN Convention against torture, has not still ratified it even after the lower house and an upper house committee gave assent to it, highlighting the need for the strong anti-torture law as the constitution provides the right to life and dignity, pointing out the reality that our country is actually degrading its reputation itself due to its inability to implement such a progressive law as the western nations have several times shown hesitation to accept the extradition request fearing that the Indian official might torture their citizens if it is granted, the Supreme Court of India has asked the centre government to implement a strong law to define the torture as an instrument of human degradation and to punish those who exercise such humiliating methods. The directive has come as a respond to the public interest litigation filed by former Union Law Minister Ashwini Kumar. The court has agreed with the statements given by the petitioner and given the directive emphasising the realities pinpointed by the petitioner. The petitioner has asserted that the centre’s observation that the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code are enough to handle the issue and the state government are not in favour of such a strong legislation is not correct as ninety per cent of the state has extended their support to such a law and even the National Human Rights Commission has spoken in favour of it. In the present scenario, the NHRC, which keep records related to the cases of custodial death, has no concrete date regarding the custodial torture cases so the preponderance of such cases goes under reported. Anyway, the Solicitor-General has sought time till May to respond to the issue in details, saying the law commission is currently studying the possibility of implementing a law on torture.

Vignesh

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