The Hindu : Karnataka News : 45 cases of police torture in Karnataka so far this year

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Friday, Jun 26, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka

45 cases of police torture in Karnataka so far this year

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: On the eve of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on June 26, the South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM), has released documents pertaining to 45 cases of illegal detention, torture, encounters, deaths in police and judicial custody from January 2009 to June 2009, in Karnataka.

R. Manohar of SICHREM told presspersons here on Thursday that the right not to be tortured should be made an explicit fundamental right and torture be made a distinct penal offence.

“The practice of torture remains a pervasive feature of India’s criminal justice system and society more widely,” he said.

Mr. Manohar pointed out that most victims were the poorest in the society belonging to vulnerable sections. The Prevention of Torture Bill, 2008, which makes torture a punishable criminal offence when it is carried out by an agent of the State for the purpose of eliciting information, was under discussion at the Centre.

Muniyamma, mother of 23-year-old Mani who committed suicide after being detained and allegedly tortured by the police, who was present at the conference, said that her son had been taken away following a complaint against him by the owner of the shop in which he worked.

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