Custodial Torture and Legislative Reform in India: Rethinking the Need for a Standalone Anti-Torture Law

India still lacks a dedicated, standalone anti-torture law and has not ratified the UN Convention Against Torture (UNCAT).[1] Though India revamped its larger criminal justice system through the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)[2], the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS)[3], and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) 2023[4], critics and legal experts point out that a standalone law on torture that defines and criminalises it is missing. However, citizens have legal recourse under constitutional provisions and existing penal codes. Beginning with the preamble, the Constitution assures every citizen the dignity of the individual and guarantees to secure justice, social, economic, and political, equality of status and opportunity. Torture has not been specifically defined in the Indian Constitution or specifically prohibited in penal laws[5]. However, the Supreme Court has specifically held that the right not to be tortured is enshrined in the right to life guaranteed in Article 20, 21 and 22 of the Indian Constitution **Dr. Chandana Suba, Assistant Professor, School of Law and Governance, Central University of South Bihar, Gaya [2] Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. [3] The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. [4] Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. [5] The Indian Constitution of 1950.