‘COLONIAL ATTITUDE OF POLICE NOT ELIMINATED’ : PLEA IN SC SEEKS ENFORCEMENT OF GUIDELINES TO CURB CUSTODIAL TORTURE

In the backdrop of the horrific custodial death of father-son duo Jayaraj and Bennix in Tamil Nadu, a petition has been filed in the Supreme Court of India, seeking elaborate guidelines to ensure prevention of custodial torture. The writ petition filed in public interest states that the Tamil Nadu incident “underlines afresh the urgent need for institutional correctives within the policing system in this country and the acute need for India to enact a strong law to prohibit and prosecute cases of torture and custodial deaths, in fulfilment of its legal obligations, both national and international, to guarantee protection to right to life”. In this backdrop, the petitioner prays for issuance and laying down of guidelines to fill the gaping lacunae in the Indian legal system, and for ensuring an effective and purposeful framework and its enforcement to fulfil the constitutional obligation of ensuring and securing the right to life and to live with human dignity and the prevention of custodial torture/deaths/rapes, in exercise of the plenary and inherent power of the Supreme Court, under Article 142 of the Constitution of India.