A Study of Constitutional Protections Against Custodial Violence – A Critical Analysis

The destruction of India's democracy occurs when a police officer tortures someone while they are in their custody. It is the greatest irony that the nation is currently fighting valiantly to eradicate a crime like "Custodial Violence" yet Mahatma Gandhi was the foremost leader who adhered to the ideal of non-violence in achieving India's freedom. The state has a responsibility to defend society from attack. One has no choice but to be tortured by those who uphold the law and the rule of law. Custodial death is not in accordance with the procedure established by law, at the same time, it is the deprivation of the right to life. Custodial death is the outcome of the brutal action or negligence of the police. It results in an unnatural death. Such a dangerous issue that is threatening the very basic right to life remained unexplored, and no major research has been undertaken to examine the problem from a state-level perspective. Thus, there is depth and intensive literature on the topic. The literature helps to give a comprehensive picture of efforts taken by the judiciary as well as the state government to combat the custodial violence. It deeply analyses the constitutional protections of an Accused and it is concluded by saying numerous suggestions for combating the custodial violence crimes. Therefore, the present study is mainly focused on critical analysis of the adequacy of existing laws relating to prevention of custodial violence. The study also incorporates practical aspects of custodial violence based on the statistics given by the State Human Rights Commission of Tamil Nadu.