Torture

Subject: Polity

Context:

Five policemen have been arrested and charged with murder in relation to the custodial deaths of a father and son in Tamil Nadu which created debate over torture.

Concept:

UN Convention against Torture

• The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT or the Convention) is an international human rights treaty which mandates a global prohibition on torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment and creates an instrument to monitor governments and hold them to account.
• The UNCAT was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1984 and came into force on 26 June 1987.
• The absolute prohibition on torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment is also accepted as a principle of customary international law.
• There are 16 substantive articles of the UNCAT which describe the obligations to respect, protect and fulfill the absolute prohibition against torture and other forms of ill-treatment, and various additional procedural provisions.
• On ratification, all the obligations in the UNCAT become binding legal commitments.
• Although India signed the UNCAT in 1997, it is yet to ratify it.
• In 2010, Prevention of Torture Bill was passed by the LokSabha, and the RajyaSabha later sent it to a select Committee for review. But the Bill was lapsed.

Article 21 and Right against Torture

• In Francis Coralie Mullin v. Union Territory of Delhi (1981) and SheelaBarse v. State of Maharashtra (1987), Supreme Court condemned cruelty and torture as violative of Article 21. This interpretation of Article 21 is consistent with the principles contained in the UNCAT.