Kerala police most likely to follow arrest procedures, Karnataka at the bottom: Survey

In Karnataka, 70% said provisions related to arrest are 'rarely or never' complied with, while 13% told surveyors that it was always followed and 17% 'sometimes'.

New Delhi: Police in Karnataka are the least to follow arrest procedures while those in Kerala are the most likely to follow it, a study on torture in custody has claimed.

The 'Status of Policing in India Report 2025: Police Torture and (Un)Accountability' showed 94 per cent policemen in Kerala who participated in a survey for the study reported that procedures were "always" followed while 6 per cent said that they are followed sometimes while none of them in the state acknowledged that the arrest procedures are rarely or never followed.

In contrast, it said, states like Jharkhand and Karnataka exhibit "significantly lower compliance". In Karnataka, 70 per cent said provisions related to arrest are "rarely or never" complied with, while 13 per cent told surveyors that it was always followed and 17 per cent "sometimes".

Jharkhand, another under-performer had 43 per cent who said they "rarely or never" followed the arrest procedures, while in Bihar it was 51 per cent, said the study by an NGO 'Common Cause' with the support of Lokniti, CSDS and Lal Family Foundation.

The study said the responses need to be seen as police perceptions of the extent of compliance with arrest procedures and not actual measures of compliance.

It also said more than half the police personnel from Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka feel that the police giving a minor punishment is better than a legal trial.

"Odisha (82 per cent), Rajasthan (77 per cent) and Kerala (72 per cent) are the top three states where the police personnel reported greater preference for adherence to due process, whereas in Jharkhand (55 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (51 per cent) and Karnataka (51 per cent), they are more likely to support the route of giving minor punishment to ‘criminals’ in small/minor offences rather than following a legal trial," the study said.

Police personnel posted in urban areas (40 per cent) are more likely to prefer giving a minor punishment rather than a legal trial in cases of minor offences, compared to 32 per cent of those in the rural areas, it said.

Police personnel from Gujarat are most likely to justify mob punishing suspects with violence "to a great extent" while those from Kerala are least likely to do so with none supporting the idea. The study said 57 per cent in Gujarat Police "justified" it to a "great extent" while in Karnataka it was 27 per cent.