The bane of police excess

The spectre of police brutality has raised its head once again in Tamil Nadu. An accused in an attempt to murder case recently levelled allegations of custodial torture meted out to as many as ten detenues at the police station of the Ambasamudram subdivision in Tirunelveli. Those named in the complaint include Assistant Superintendent of Police Balveer Singh and two other policemen. The victim Chellappa alleged that the ASP used a cutting plier to extract his tooth. He added that the ASP inflicted severe damage to his brother Mariappan’s genitals.

Chief Minister MK Stalin emphasised that his government would not make any compromises on the issue of human rights violations and has issued orders for placing the ASP under suspension. On Thursday, one individual called for an inquiry into the allegations, said that he was not tortured and that he had broken his teeth when he had fallen down. The incident has rekindled memories of the death of a father son-duo in Thoothukudi at the hands of the cops in the Sathankulam police station in 2020. The two men who were taken into custody for violating the lockdown rules, were said to have been tortured as a result of which they died.

The recent development is a reminder of Tamil Nadu’s track record of police excess. Data made available by the Lok Sabha shows that the State reported as many as 478 deaths while suspects were in judicial or police custody between 2016-17 and 2021-22. Uttar Pradesh, with 2,580 deaths recorded the highest number of fatalities across India. Maharashtra also witnessed 874 deaths while TN reported the highest fatalities among southern States. As many as 11,419 such deaths were reported across India during the said period, but not all fatalities resulted from police torture.

Although many cases of police excess have been reported over the past several years, it is rare that police officers have faced conviction in custodial torture, custodial deaths, or even illegal detention cases. This problem is not just endemic to Tamil Nadu, but to India too. Just about 286 judicial enquiries were initiated for cases of custodial deaths of persons on remand, and otherwise, between 2017-2021. The National Crime Records Bureau says that during the same period, 114 cops were arrested for their involvement in these deaths, and only 79 were chargesheeted.

In the case of TN, 39 magisterial enquiries were conducted, but not a single cop was chargesheeted, arrested, or convicted. The State also has the dubious distinction of holding the highest number of detenues in India - at 1,775 as of December 2021. Tamil Nadu already has a framework to address stress levels of police personnel. In 2018, the Police Wellness Programme was introduced here in collaboration with NIMHANS, Bengaluru.

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had also directed the TN government to continue to fund its Police Well-being Programme for as many as five years. Back then, around 80 cops were sent for month-long behavioural correction programmes based on their past records.

The police force is a crucial agent of law enforcement. They are supposed to serve as a trusted friend of the citizens, someone who can be relied on at a time of need. Restoring the humane aspect of policing will be one big challenge facing the TN police force. Efforts towards this must be carried out in letter and spirit, and not merely as lip service.