Citizens for Justice and Peace
Why has India still not ratified UN Convention against torture? India still does not have a law condemning torture
23-Jul-2021
What continues to remain amiss in the Indian legislations is the definition, and subsequent condemnation of torture by public officials. A right against torture is nothing but an affirmation of Right to Life under Article 21. However, enforcing fundamental rights is a much more tedious task than invoking the provisions of the specific law, which…
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…
Investigate illegal detention of children in J&K: SC Apex court directs Juvenile Justice Committee of J & K HC to probe the matter
20-Sep-2019
The Supreme Court has directed the Juvenile Justice Committee of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to look into the allegations of illegal detention of children in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of abrogation of Article 370, and submit a report before it within a week. There have been certain reports specific to the…
Women prisoners recount Jail Horror Stories Rape and torture common in jails
24-Jan-2019
Over the past 15 years, India’s jails have seen a rise in women inmates by 61 per cent, even though they constitute only 48.18% of the national population (according to the World Bank, 2017). Moreover, the Indian prison system has failed to respect their rights. From custodial torture, rape, denial of health services, lack of clean food and…
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…
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…
Ratify Convention Against Torture, Enact Prevention of Torture Bill, 2017: Law Commission
21-Nov-2017
In a major victory for the human rights movement in the country, the Law Commission of India (headed by justice BS Chauhan) has recommended that the Indian government ratify the Convention Against Torture for ratification enact a Prevention of Torture Law. In its 273rd report submitted to the Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad…
Implementation of ‘United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment’ through Legislation
31-Oct-2017
LAW COMMISSION OF INDIA Report No.273 Implementation of ‘United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment’ through Legislation October, 2017