Custodial Death: The Legal Murder
Rizvi Law College, Mumbai University, India.
Volume III, Issue V, 2020
Custodial Death is one of the worst crimes in a civilized society governed by the rule of law. Does a citizen shed of his fundamental right to life, the moment a policeman arrests him? Can a right to life of a citizen be put in abeyance on his arrest? The answer indeed has to be An empathetic “No”. -Supreme Court in D.K. Basu v. the State of West Bengal AIR 1997 SC610. “If I can love myself despite of my infinite faults, how can I hate anyone at the glimpse of few faults”? Alexander the Great“. The word custody itself points to guardianship and protective care. Even if it indicates to arrest or incarceration. No civilized law supports custodial cruelty – an inhuman trait that springs out of an evil desire to cause suffering when there is no possibility of any retaliation; a senseless demonstration of superiority and physical power over the one who is overpowered or a collective indignation of sanctimonious thinking .In the civilized society, governed by the rule of law, custodial crime is one of the worst crimes and poses a serious threat to a tidy civilized society. Torture in custody scorns the basic rights of the citizens and is an aspersion to human dignity