Citizens for Justice and Peace
CJP urges Assam Police to install CCTVs in police stations Memorandum backed by organisations of lawyers, farmers and labourers highlights SC directives from a year ago
06-Dec-2021
In a bid to ensure greater transparency in how the police conduct their operations, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) has joined hands with different organisations of lawyers, farmers and workers, and submitted a memorandum to the Assam Police urging for the installation of CCTV cameras in all police stations. CJP joins illustrious organisations such…
Has torture in police custody become routine? From 2005 to 2018, not a single police person has been convicted
29-Jun-2021
Allegedly thrashed by the cops at Virajpet Police Station, 50-year-old mentally challenged Roy D’ Souza succumbed to his injuries on June 12 in Karnataka. According to some media sources, Roy, who was also epileptic, was found roaming the streets with a knife in his hand and attacked a constable before being taken into custody. Roy was beaten…
Justice for Faisal: Sign CJP’s petition NOW! The young vegetable seller was allegedly beaten to death by UP cops
25-May-2021
Mohammad Faisal Husain, a young vegetable vendor and the sole breadwinner for his family of six, was allegedly beaten to death by the Unnao Police on May 20. Some media reports state that his post mortem report revealed that he succumbed to a head injury. The post mortem examination also found a severe injury behind his…
Ramifications of SC judgment on CCTVs in Police Stations Teesta Setalvad in Facebook Live conversation with Nitya Ramakrishnan, Mihir Desai & Henri Tiphagne
04-Dec-2020
A Facebook Live discussion was organised by Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) with Senior Counsels and human rights advocates Nitya Ramakrishnan and Mihir Desai and veteran Rights Advocate Henri Tiphagne on December 3, 2020. It was moderated by CJP secretary Teesta Setalvad. The exclusive discussion started with welcoming the recent judgment of Paramvir Singh Saini…
SC order on CCTVs in Police Stations: Firm stand against Custodial Torture Detailed directions on position of CCTVs, storage of recorded data, accessibility to the victim
03-Dec-2020
The Supreme Court has passed a detailed and specific order directing states and the centre to take concrete steps towards ensuring that every police station in the country and all investigating agencies have CCTV cameras in their premises. The bench comprising Justices RF Nariman, KM Joseph and Aniruddha Bose have ordered setting up of state…
TN custodial death report establishes complicity of police, hospital staff and jail authorities Well executed inquiry without losing evidentiary value
02-Dec-2020
The horrifying incident of the custodial death of a father and son due to torture in custody, is still fresh in people’s minds. In June, Jeyaraj (60) and Benicks (31) two shop owners in Sathankulam were taken in custody and were brutally assaulted by police personnel which eventually led to their death within 4 days.…
The last leg of the DK Basu judgement: An Analysis A look at the 2015 judgment; what it did for the initial parametres set by the 1996 judgment
25-Aug-2020
Case title: D.K.Basu vs. State of West Bengal Case No.: Crl.M.P. No.15492 of 2014 Date of judgement: July 24, 2015 Coram: Justices TS Thakur and R Bhanumati This judgment was the last of the orders under the continuing mandamus of the Supreme Court in the monumental DK Basu case. The case has gone down…
Revisiting DK Basu: The most relevant judgment of all time A landmark judgment that held that torture revealed the darker side of human civilization
17-Aug-2020
Case title: D.K.Basu vs. State of West Bengal Case No.: Writ Petition (Crl) No. 592 of 1987 Date of judgement: December 18, 1996 Coram: Justices Kuldip Singh and A.S. Anand ‘Torture’ of a human being by another human being is essentially an instrument to impose the will of the ’strong’ over the ‘weak’ by suffering…
NCRB Reports Show Statistics on How Many Breathe Their Last in Custody A deep dive into the Board’s 2017 reports on crimes in India and prison statistics.
04-Nov-2019
On October 20, the NCRB simultaneously released two of its annual reports—“Prison Statistics India 2017” and “Crime in India 2017”. The reports contain statistics collated by the Board as to the number and types of deaths occurring in judicial and police custody respectively. Here, we look into the findings from these documents. Deaths in judicial…
Poverty haunts family of Subrata Dey Detention Camp victim's son forced to give up education, mother and widow make cloth bags to survive!
28-Sep-2019
On May 26, 2018, Subrata Dey, a Bengali Hindu, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the Goalpara detention camp. Dey was the only earning member, and his family at the time depended on his income from his modest tea shop. Now, a year later, his son has been forced to drop out of school,…
African migrants in Yemen suffering physical, sexual abuse: HRW
24-Apr-2018
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has alleged that “Yemeni government officials have tortured, raped, and executed migrants and asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa in a detention center” in Yemen. HRW said that ex-detainees informed the organisation that they were kicked, punched and beaten with steel bars and bricks by guards, and also sexually assaulted. They said…
Police accused of employing death squad tactics against drug suspects in Mexico
03-Mar-2018
Mexican government prosecutors have filed charges accusing police in Mexico’s Veracruz state of establishing units that employed death squad-like strategies to kidnap and kill at least 15 people whom they suspected were drug runners and drug cartel informants, the Guardian reported. The indictment has alleged that police in marked patrol cars detained youths but did not…
US Supreme Court ruling means immigrants can be detained indefinitely
28-Feb-2018
The United States’ Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, February 27, that immigration authorities can hold immigrants indefinitely without bond hearings, even if they are permanent legal residents or asylum seekers, The Hill reported. The court ruled that immigrants did not have the right to periodic bond hearings, although immigration activists had maintained that immigrants should…
Imprisoning the Mind, Torturing the Body How India treats its Political Prisoners: Part 1
15-Feb-2018
Through our series on Political Prisoners, we try to look at some of these cases and understand how our situation has been made more drastic by an authoritarian regime in power that has found it befitting to slap student leaders with sedition, as well as some other cases who are struggling since years without any…
Jharkhand HC Admits Petition on Mass Incarceration of Adivasis & Dalits Youth from oppressed sections of society languishing in jail due to inordinate delays
09-Jan-2018
After several preliminary hearings, the Jharkand HC has admitted the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee [PPSC] on under-trial prisoners in the jails of Jharkhand. Several thousands of them, mostly Adivasi and Dalit youth, who have been languishing in prison because their trials have been deliberately prolonged. If speedy trial had…