Lenin Raghuvanshi, a UP-based social activist, remarks the BJP has been using a feudal tool to control crime by creating a climate of fear among people: “This is against the modern criminal justice system.”
#Torture #Women
Women
struggle while men die in custody in India’s Uttar Pradesh
- Written by
Ritwika Mitra
- Edited by
Ankita Anand
- Illustration
by Walker Gawande
Amid
government claims of a decline in crime, human rights violations have become
rife in India’s most populous state.
The
reporting for this project was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
June
14, 2023
When
33-year-old Shahiba Bano is not busy trying to piece her life back together,
her mind strays to the late-evening driving lessons with her husband. Learning
how to ride a three-wheeler for a living was never on her agenda. Bringing up
four children was a full-time job in itself. But her husband, Ibrahim, who
eked out a humble living as a driver, was adamant, so she played along. Soon
she started looking forward to the lessons, and most importantly, to the
opportunity to step out of their home in Uttar Pradesh’s Banaura village to
spend time with him. It lasted for a year before abruptly coming to an end in February
2021.
In
the state records, Ibrahim is a custodial death statistic. Shahiba, meanwhile,
is taking each day in her stride: grieving her husband’s death, fighting for
justice and compensation, providing for her children, and convincing herself
that she can fill in the emotional void that Ibrahim’s death has left in their
lives.
India
recorded over 4,400
custodial deaths between 2020 and 2022. Uttar Pradesh alone accounted
for over
21 percent of the deaths, raising questions about the prevalence of gross
human rights violations in the country’s most populous state.
Death
by Law
Unbias
the News interviewed seven families who
lost their family members to custodial deaths in Uttar Pradesh. Of these, five
deaths were recorded between 2020 and 2022. The ground reportage, and
interviews with over a dozen experts, showed how women bore the brunt of the
deaths and were pushed further into poverty, floundering without any resources
to support their families.
Mangla,
a lawyer, who has been examining cases of state violence in UP, points out the
urgent need to see state violence through a gendered lens. “In events of
custodial deaths, the situation becomes drastically poor for the families,
especially for the wife who faces the economic brunt. The wife has to typically
face patriarchy inside the house and pressure from the police from outside.
Often, she becomes a burden for her in-laws and maternal family. In some cases,
they are pushed into marriage again. In other cases, she is forced to cave into
not giving a statement.”
Data
obtained by Unbias the News from the rights body National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
for the corresponding period (1 April 2020 – 31 March 2022) shows 4,206 judicial
custody deaths, and 278 police custody deaths across the country. Of these,
Uttar Pradesh recorded 935 judicial custody deaths – the highest in the country
– and 17 police custody deaths, the third highest in the country after
Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Compensations
were ordered for 252 deaths in judicial custody, and 58 deaths in police
custody — both of which include cases carried forward from past years — across
the country during this period. The total compensation amount for deaths in
judicial custody amounted to over 77 million INR, and over 21 million INR for
police custody deaths.
Trial
and Error
Arrested
on charges of allegedly being in possession of 25 grams of heroin, Ibrahim died
by suicide in jail, according to prison authorities — a version vehemently
contested by the family, who refused to bury Ibrahim’s body. What followed was
furore in the local media, and heavy police deployment till the burial took
place at their village in Sonbhadra district.
Glancing
through photographs taken in their youth, Shahiba asks if the family’s
condition would be so dismal if they were smuggling drugs for a living.
According to Shahiba, the auto-rickshaw was intercepted by the police when her
husband was on the day’s first trip to ferry passengers. “The police tried to
coax my husband to vacate the auto and run errands for them in the auto [a term
called begaari, or work without pay, in the local parlance], and he
refused.”
“They
said they would teach him a lesson. He was taken to a police station where I
eventually met him. I signed documents, paid a fine, and drove the
auto-rickshaw back home. On 8 February, I again met him at the court where he
was produced. On 12 February, we got the news that he was dead.”
Shahiba
Bano
Ibrahim,
39, was dead within five days of his arrest.
In
the wake of the storm
The
repercussions of Ibrahim’s death on his family were immediate — his father’s
health rapidly deteriorated and he died within a few months. His eldest
daughter, 18, who wanted to study further, was married off. Three children,
aged 16, 14 and 11, were pulled out of private school.
“If
they are attending [a private] school, they would have to go a certain way
[need better clothes, better food, etc]. It is different when they go to a
government school. I do not have much … Should I feed them or educate them?”
Not
finding the confidence to drive the auto-rickshaw for a living after seeing
Ibrahim’s fate, Shahiba has rented it out. While financial struggles became a
part of her everyday life, negotiating family dynamics and societal
expectations have also added a layer of burden.
“There
is a certain way society perceives you when your husband is no more. It is not
easy,” says Shahiba as she rearranges her husband’s documents in a suitcase.
Suhas
Chakma from the National
Campaign Against Torture says once a person is produced before a
magistrate it is expected that the judiciary will be the protector. Despite the
existence of jail manuals, which legally ensure the physical integrity and
liberty of prisoners, the reality is starkly different, adds Chakma.
On
paper, the government upholds the law
In
the recent past, the UP government has been vocal about its intolerance to
crime. The state’s chief minister, Yogi Adityanath from the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP), said in an
interview that if ‘criminals’ did not mend their ways, the police
would ‘knock them down’. Such deliberations from senior party functionaries
provide the police with impunity in committing excesses, say activists and
lawyers.
India’s
ruling party, BJP, was re-elected to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2022 after a
high-pitched campaign for a
drop in crime rates and improved law and order conditions.
Adityanath
has been hailed by party functionaries, including home
minister Amit Shah, for improving the law and order situation in the
state.
In
2021, there was outrage in the country when a 22-year-old Muslim boy died
in police custody. Analysis
pieces show Muslims remain vulnerable to being targeted
by the police and judiciary, and that the
law is misused to target minorities. Dalits also
remain disproportionally at the receiving end of the law.
Lenin
Raghuvanshi, a UP-based social activist, remarks the BJP has been using a
feudal tool to control crime by creating a climate of fear among people: “This
is against the modern criminal justice system.”
In
2010, the United Progressive Alliance government brought in anti-torture legislation to the lower house of India’s
Parliament. It was eventually put in cold storage.
India
still remains without the legislation, exposing the lack of political
commitment in clamping down on torture, despite the country being a signatory
to the UN Convention against Torture since 1997.
In
2017, the Law Commission pointed out the obligation of states to take action to
prevent violence, and, in 2019, the Supreme
Court directed all states to send their responses to the Prevention
of Torture Bill, 2017.
Though
a need of the hour, an anti-torture legislation alone cannot change the culture
of violence embedded in the criminal justice system, says Venkatesh Nayak of
the non-profit Commonwealth
Human Rights Initiative: “The vision of the Preamble of the Constitution is
to secure equality, justice, liberty and fraternity. The executive’s actions
must be founded on the principle of rule of law because there is no room for
arbitrariness.”
"How
can one tolerate a situation where law enforcement agencies are able to torture
citizens? There is rampant abuse of power that leads to suffering, loss of
lives and untold agony of families of victims of torture.”
Venkatesh
Nayak, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
Reports show
the implementation of the guidelines of the D.K.
Basu v. West Bengal judgment remains poor, despite being
incorporated into the country’s Code
of Criminal Procedure. In the case, the Supreme Court of India, India’s
highest court, developed a set of guidelines to clamp down on torture in
custody. The NHRC was established in 1993 to put checks and balances in place,
and hold the state accountable. But its role has failed to achieve full
potential, according to rights activists.
Senior
advocate Anand Grover points out there is sovereign immunity granted to the
state when it comes to custodial deaths and the jurisprudence remains
deficient. “In India, you cannot file a lawsuit against the police for misconduct.
We overcome that by allowing writ petitions in the High Court.”
The
Convention Against Torture
The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment is a United Nations human rights
treaty from 1984 that prohibits state governments from enacting torture on any
person in its jurisdiction – including criminals and people suspected of
crimes. India became a signatory in 1997.
Wives
and children struggle with finances, stigma a dominant part of lives
When
Shahiba asked Ibrahim why he insisted on her learning how to drive, he told her
he wanted to ensure that she is ‘no less’ in any sphere of life. “But I liked
driving the auto-rickshaw because it was something I used to do with
him.”
On
the last day when she met him in court, she thought it was only a matter of
days before Ibrahim would be out of prison. After all, the charges were
fabricated, she told him. “I am being sent away [to prison]. How will you
manage?” Shahiba quotes Ibrahim’s last words to her, breaking into tears. “I
told him not to worry and that I would get him released soon.”
She
pauses as her son gestures that he is leaving for school. They kiss each
other’s hands and promise to remain strong before he zooms away on his bicycle.
Shahiba
is resolute now to fight the legal battle.
The
father, the son, and the ghost of a life past
But
Reena, aged 22, in Newari village, and Manju Devi, around 40, in Ahraura
village, who both lost their husbands to custodial deaths in Sonbhadra
district, are wary of the legal recourse for different reasons.
As
her three-year-old daughter vies for attention demanding to be fed a biscuit
and a piece of a chikki (peanut candy), Reena recounts how she got duped into
paying 20,000 INR (roughly 250 euros) to a person who promised her compensation
for her husband’s death. Unacquainted with the legal system, Reena easily
believed she would receive state compensation if she deposited this amount. The
fraud cost them deeply. The family depends on the income of Reena’s father who
works as a labourer, and the lean produce from hardly an acre of land that the
family owns.
Accused
of rape, Reena’s 26-year-old husband Krish Murari was in jail for around six
months till his death in May 2021. The police claimed he died by suicide.
As
a truck driver, Krish earned 15,000-20,000 INR a month. Having studied till
class 10, Reena wonders aloud if she can manage to find a job.
“My
life would be different if he had been alive. He was innocent. The rape charge
was false and lodged to settle score between families. I have even spoken to
the woman who had accused him of the crime,” says Reena. What she worries about
the most is whether she will be able to educate her child.
While
Reena feels despair thinking about the future, Krish’s parents can barely
afford the medicines their son used to take care of.
An
inconsolable Janti Devi, Krish’s mother, recalls how her son would assure her
that someday soon financial struggle would be out of their way, and that they would
have a ‘good house’ to stay in.
His
father Mahendar Prasad wants accountability: “Show us the spot where this
happened. Show the CCTV footage.”
"When
something wrong happens, the police can come and lock us up. But I want to ask
who will lock them up when something goes wrong at their end? Who do we fight
with?” asks Prasad.
Death
and its domino effect
The India Justice Report by Tata Trusts shows UP
ranked last among bigger states at 18 out of 18 states when it came to its
ranking across police, prison, judiciary and legal aid. Uttar Pradesh’s police
ranked 15 in 2020, as compared to 2019’s 18.
Uttar
Pradesh also has a high vacancy rate of constables and officers, and a poor
representation of women officials.
Uttar
Pradesh does not fare well when it comes to its prisons either – 3.24 – second from bottom among the large states,
second from bottom at 3.16 when it comes to the rank of the
judiciary, and last in legal aid at 2.54.
Manju
Devi is bogged down by the stigma of the crime her husband, Badri Morja,
allegedly committed. He was accused of having murdered his brother-in-law when
a verbal fight over a business feud escalated. He died in judicial custody in
July 2021, within a few days of being imprisoned. His business, and the
financial security it provided his family, shut shop too.
“How
will I go and fight for justice? I have four kids – two daughters – 24, and 22,
and two sons – 19 and 17. I have never stepped outside my home. Where do I run
around?”
Manju
Devi
The
eldest daughter, who is hearing and speaking impaired, is still processing her
father’s death. The second daughter is now clueless about how to pursue her
education. Of the sons, one is pursuing his graduation while working part-time,
and the youngest has started to earn money assisting at his uncle’s shop, which
sells fritters.
Neeranjan
Morja, the deceased’s brother, says the need of the hour is to focus on those
left behind: “There were black marks all over his body… But we were
just told that he fell ill and then was found dead. We do not want to pursue
any case.”
When
the old bury the young
In
Devkali village in Azamgarh district, 40-year-old Neerja Singh is trying to
maintain a semblance of normalcy in her life — between reconciling herself with
the grief of losing her youngest son and getting on with her familial duties.
As she talks about her son’s brief life, she vacillates between stoicism and
being inconsolable.
The
last time she went to visit her son at the jail she carried 5 kilograms of roasted
chana (black gram), and mango pickles. Her face breaks into a faint smile as
she talks about his liking. “He liked mango pickles – the sweet kind.”
The
school marksheet documents his age as 17. But his post-mortem report records
his age as 22 – a claim vehemently contested by the
family.
Accused
of theft, he was imprisoned for a year before the family bailed him out.
In
December 2020, he was jailed again. He died on August 8, 2021 — four days
after his birthday. His mother laments having believed that if her son was in
the wrong, the system would course correct him. She last spoke to him a day
before his birthday.
Her
son had respiratory distress, which would resurface intermittently. According
to the jail administration, his health rapidly deteriorated and he died in the
hospital.
Overcrowding
in prisons and lack of health facilities
Vijay
Raghavan, professor at the Centre for Criminology and Justice at the Tata
Institute of Social Sciences, points out how overcrowding in jails is linked
with human rights violations of prisoners, and the urgent need for an overhaul
of the criminal justice system.
“There
is supposed to be a minimum amount of space allotted for each prisoner as per
the prison manuals. But due to overcrowding, the authorities are not able to
maintain the standard. When it comes to medical care, while the actual capacity
is sometimes thrice the designated capacity or even more, the strength of the
medical staff is based on the sanctioned capacity. So while the data shows
natural deaths, some of the reasons for deaths may be because of their health
conditions, which may have exacerbated inside the prison due to lack of proper
health facilities. Doctors’ posts lying vacant also typically increases the
stress on the prison system.”
He
explains how the absence of facilities and human resources, including police to
escort patients to hospitals, may be linked to deaths because patients were not
attended to in a time-bound manner.
Scores
of complaints, zero convictions
In
Sajaur in Sonbhadra district, another mother, Malti Shukla, has barely managed
to pick up the pieces of her life since her son died in police custody within a
day of having been detained in August 2019. Shivam Shukla, 26, was accused of
stealing mustard seeds. “And people are murdering people and roaming around on
the streets. Isn’t it?” asks a distraught Malti.
At
the local police station, where Malti went to meet her son, he had urged her to
save him. His father Umapati Shukla barely looks up as he sieves through the
son’s documents. The police claimed he died by suicide by hanging himself with
the drawstring of his bottomwear
“When
we asked for the CCTV footage, the police said the cameras were not in working
condition. He killed himself by using a drawstring — is that really possible?”
Malti
Shukla
Between
2000 and 2020,
26 police officials were convicted, though there were complaints against
over 890 people in the force. During 2021, there were zero
convictions of police officials, pointing to how the police enjoy impunity
despite committing atrocities.
As
the rights group Peoples Union for Democratic Rights noted
in its findings on custodial deaths in Delhi, “There are rarely if
ever any independent non-police witnesses in cases of custodial deaths, nor is
there any independent mechanism of investigation.”
There
is a need to analyse torture or third-degree treatment in police custody from
two angles –the police believing it is the best way to extract evidence, and
that violence is used under bias, says Raghavan.
“This
line of treatment shows that there is a lack of scientific method of investigation,
especially outside metropolitan cities and in non-high-profile cases. There is
also an agenda to teach the person a lesson and then it can go overboard. In a
lot of cases, you may find the person was beaten up and then it became a
serious injury and then it led to the death. At the time of beating, the
constable is not doing it wanting to kill the person but the outcome is
death."
Vijay
Raghavan,professor at the Centre for Criminology and Justice at the Tata
Institute of Social Sciences
The
medical documents, including the post-mortem report, are crucial in assessing
the injuries present in the body. In fact, the autopsy report is crucial in
giving a holistic picture of the status of the body. But it may miss a few
circumstances that may have contributed to the cause of death, including the
psychological impact of torture, points out Dr Jagadeesh Narayanreddy,
Bengaluru-based medico-legal consultant.
But
it cannot be discounted that one of the consequences of torture is
psychological.
“A
person is often susceptible to self-harm following torture. Also, the
post-mortem report would not capture how a person was disturbed since the
torture. Despite videography of the process of autopsies, police interference
cannot be ruled out as due to lack of infrastructure it is often the police
which is recording the event,” Dr Narayanreddy adds.
India
has an obligation to the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful
Death. Currently, there is an absence of uniform protocol for autopsies in
India. There is a need that due process is followed while conducting
the autopsy independent of external pressures in order to document the
possibility of torture, says Sangeeta Rege, coordinator at the Mumbai-based Centre
for Enquiry Into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT).
“The
right to life is contrary to the deprivation of life and the state is
accountable when it fails to protect, preserve or respect the right to life and
must investigate such unlawful deaths."
Sangeeta
Rege, Centre for Enquiry in Health and Allied Themes
Unbias
the News reached out to the Uttar Pradesh
Police on e-mail, phone and WhatsApp multiple times for their comment on the
story. The Uttar Pradesh Police has not responded so far. The story will be
updated if they do.
About
the author
Ritwika
Mitra is an independent journalist based in India.
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