Geneva (AsiaNews) - During the presentation of the Global Index on Torture on 25 June in Geneva, human rights activist Henri Tiphagne, director of the Indian NGO People's Watch, harshly criticised New Delhi for failing to ratify the UN Convention against Torture, which allows systemic impunity in deaths in custody.
He cited an emblematic case: that of two Christians - Fr. Jeyaraj, 58, and his son Benicks, 38 - arrested in 2020 on charges of keeping their shops open after hours while Tamil Nadu was still in lockdown to contain the spread of Covid, and found dead the next day.
‘That father and son,’ Tiphagne reported, ‘were tortured and died in police custody. They were brought before a magistrate after having already changed their clothes three times due to bleeding. The trial in their case has been going on for five years, with 262 hearings, and has not yet been concluded, while the family continues to suffer reprisals.’
India is one of eight countries mentioned (along with Libya, Honduras, Belarus, Colombia, Turkey, the Philippines and Tunisia) in the Global Index on Torture compiled by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) with partners from 26 countries, which highlights impunity, legal loopholes and state silence on torture as central aspects of the human rights crisis in these countries. In 2024 alone, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) – a body dependent on the New Delhi government – recorded 2,739 deaths in custody, up from around 2,400 the previous year.
‘India has not yet ratified the Convention against Torture,’ Tiphagne said, ‘despite recommendations from more than 41 countries. The National Human Rights Commission, which has been in existence for 32 years, has never prosecuted a single police officer responsible for extrajudicial killings or torture.’ The director of People's Watch recalls how basic provisions such as access to autopsy videos for families, camera surveillance in mortuaries and psychological rehabilitation for victims are systematically ignored in India.
The Global Torture Index assesses countries on five key dimensions: prevention, accountability, redress and compensation, protection and support for survivors and witnesses, and safeguards for human rights defenders. India scored particularly low in all categories. According to an OMCT press release, the Indian government has also ignored Supreme Court rulings aimed at alleviating the burden on prisoners awaiting trial, many of whom remain in prison well beyond the time allowed for the crime they are accused of. Prison officials regularly violate guidelines on release and rehabilitation.
The report also highlights the persecution of human rights defenders as a major concern in India. ‘Torture is used as a weapon to silence them,’ Tiphagne said. He cited the case of Khurram Parvez, who has been in prison for over four years, and the defendants in the Bhima Koregaon case, who are still being held without trial. “There are women like Adivasi activist Soni Sori, tortured since 2005, who is still fighting to protect her land,” she added.
The 2019 amendment to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) has facilitated the arbitrary designation of activists as terrorists, intensifying the crackdown on dissent, according to the report. Since 2018, at least 61 human rights defenders have been detained, many of whom have been tortured or ill-treated. Notable cases include the prolonged imprisonment and death of disabled professor GN Saibaba, and the two-year prison sentence handed down to journalist Siddique Kappan, who was arrested while trying to report on an incident of caste-based violence.
During the event in Geneva, OMCT Secretary General Gerald Staberock said: “Torture does not only take place in the dark basements of dictatorships. It also happens in democracies with functioning legal systems, and India is a prime example of this.”
