Short essay on custodial crimes

The studies of custodial crimes indicate that crimes in custody have shown an upward trend. Most prevalent crimes in police custody are: assaults of various types, rape and murder. These custodial crimes have drawn attention of public, media, legislatures and even Human Rights Commission.

The data pertaining to custodial crimes way collected for the first time in 1995. The data for years indicate that while there were 31 custodial deaths in 1995, their number in 1996 was 49, in 1997 was 40 and in 1998 was 46 (Crime in India, 1998:311).

The number of rapes each year was six. However, one study made in 1992 indicated 149 deaths in police custody in 1991 against 112 in 1990. Maharashtra accounted for the maximum number (23) followed by Andhra Pradesh (15), Uttar Pradesh (10), Rajasthan (11), Kerala (11), and Delhi (6) (The Hindustan Times, June 26, 1992).

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The People’s Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR) looked into custodial cases of violence between November 1989 and February 1994 and submitted its report in April 1994. It pointed out 12 incidents of custodial rape involving 24 policemen. Surprisingly, not even one was convicted.

Seven cases were closed and in five cases, the victim women retracted their charge of rape despite overwhelming medical and circumstantial evidence to the contrary. Of the ten dismissed policemen, four were reinstated (The Hindustan Times, May 27, 1994) and the rest were accused in a case where the victim had already retracted.