JOIN US1,888 custodial deaths in 20 years; 26 cops convicted: NCRB data
Of the 1,888 custodial deaths that were reported across India over the last 20 years, 893 cases were registered against police personnel and 358 personnel were charge-sheeted. However, only 26 policemen were convicted, according to National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) annual Crime in India (CII) reports between 2001-2020.
In the most recent case, an FIR against unidentified policemen on murder charges has been registered in the alleged custodial death of 22-year-old Altaf, who was allegedly found hanging from a 3 feet-high water pipe in the washroom of the police station lock-up on Tuesday, last week.
"I followed him to the police chowki but I was sent back. The next day, we were told that Altaf has ended his life by hanging himself in the washroom of Sadar police station. It is not possible for a 5 feet tall boy to hang from a two feet high water tap. My son had been murdered according to a conspiracy in the police station," the victim's father Chand Miyan said in the FIR.
According to the police, Altaf was called to the police station in connection with a kidnapping FIR of a minor Hindu girl in whose house he worked as a mason on Tuesday morning. During questioning, he asked to go to the washroom where he hung himself from the water pipeline, using the string of the hood of his jacket. Five policemen were suspended and a magisterial inquiry was ordered.
“Flaws in the working of the police have to be acknowledged and rectified”, a retired IPS officer who has served as DGP in UP and Assam, Prakash Singh, was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
“Policemen don’t investigate these cases properly. They try to defend their colleagues, which is definitely wrong. When a man has died in custody, the person responsible should be held accountable and the police must ensure that he is duly punished,” Singh told the publication.
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(With agency inputs)