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INDIA: A man died in custody after being severely tortured by the police

October 6, 2003

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

7 October 2003

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UA-60-2003: INDIA: A man died in custody after being severely tortured by the police

INDIA: Illegal arrest and detention; Torture; Custodial death
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Name of the victim: Mr. Velraj, 38, formerly residing at Ervadi Village, Tirunelveli district, Tamilnadu, India
Perpetrators: Constables Mr. Chelladurai; Mr. Kanthasamy; Mr. Senthil Murugan; Mr. Sivathambu; and Inspector of the Police Mr. J. Subramaniam attached to the Ervadi Police Station in Tirunalveli District
Date of incident: 30 October 2002

CASE DETAILS:

On 30 October 2002, Mr. Velraj, 38, of the Ervadi Village, Tirunelveli district, Tamilnadu, was arrested at his house by four Special Branch police constables from the Ervadi Police Station at his house. According to Manjula, the victim¡¦s wife, the four police constables named above barged into Velraj¡¦s house around midnight and dragged Velraj out of the house and put him into a police jeep. Manjula ran behind the police jeep but could not catch up with the jeep and did not dare to go to the police station at night. Mr. Welraj, a helper of a local fish merchant Arunachalam, belongs to Dalit [lower Caste] and had no previous criminal record.

The next day morning at around 6:00am Manjula went to the Ervadi police station to ask about her husband. The policemen told her that Velraj was not brought to the police station and that they did not know him. But about 10:00am Mr. Sudalaikannu, a liquor shop owner, told Majula that Velrraj died in police custody. She rushed to Nanguneri the Taluk Headquarters, along with some local people. At the Taluk Headquarters, when she saw the dead body of her husband, which had a swollen face and testicles and bruises on his left shoulder, she fainted. The local police did not show any mercy and dragged Manjula and the others out of the place immediately.

It was later found that six others were also arrested along with Velraj on 30 October 2002 on charges of cheating, trying to sell noxious food and attempting to commit a criminal offence (IPC 420, 273, 511). They were all later released without filing a charge sheet. It is alleged that the police arbitrary arrested Arunachala, a local fish seller and Velraj¡¦s employer, who had a record of selling liquor in the past, in order to increase the count of cases. Velraj was arrested only because he happened to work with him. It is common for police in Tamilnadu to arrest and falsely charge innocent victims at random for cases pending inquiry. To extract a confession statement, the police often resort to torture.

Despite the family¡¦s repeated requests, they could neither see the postmortem report of the victim, nor they could access the inquest report of the victim¡¦s case conducted by the Sub Divisional Magistrate. The police claimed that Velraj died of cardiac arrest while he was in custody. However, it was revealed that the victim had no history of any illness, and his wife stated that the victim had no previous heart condition. Also, the injuries on Velraj¡¦s body have not been explained. The victim¡¦s family believes that Velraj died after being tortured by the police.

The four police constables from the Ervadi Police Station who arrested the victim and the Inspector of police who was present in the police station while Velraj was tortured in custody are responsible for the custodial death of Velraj. They should have been prosecuted for custodial torture. However, these police constables who are responsible for torturing the victim were subsequently transferred to the Crime Investigation Department, which is considered as a promotion in service.

Manjula and her five children are living in desperate conditions since Velraj¡¦s death because he was the breadwinner of the family. The relevant documents required to initiate action against the perpetrators were not given to the victim¡¦s family, despite repeated requests. This is the denial of the right of a person to information. The victim¡¦s family made a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission, but the case is still pending. (File number: 965/22/2002-2003) India has not yet ratified and legislated upon the Convention Against Torture (CAT).

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Send a letter, fax or email to the addresses below to express your concern of this serious case.

1. Shri. A.P.J. Abdul kalam,
President of India,
Rashtrapathi Bhavan,
New Delhi ¡V 110001
INIDA
Tel: +91 11 23015321
Fax: + 91 11 23017290 / 23017824
E-mail: presidentofindia@rb.nic.in

2. Justice A.S.Anand
Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission
Sardar Patel Bhavan, Sansad Marg,
New Delhi ¡V 110001
INDIA
Tel: +91 11 23340891
Fax: +91 11 23340016 / 23366537
E-mail: nhrc@ren.nic.in or chairnhrc@nic.in

3. Dr. J. Jayalalitha
Chief Minister of Tamilnadu
Fort St. George, Chennai Tamilnadu,
INIDA
Tel: +91 44 25670132
Fax: +91 44 25671441
E-mail: cmcell@tn.gov.in, cmcell@tn.nic.in

4. Tmt. Lakshmi Pranesh IAS
Chief Secretary, Public Department
Secretariat, Chennai - 600 009
Tamilnadu
INDIA
Tel: +91 44 25671555 (O) / 24912601 (R)
Fax: +91 44 25672304
E-mail: cs@tn.gov.in

5. Thiru T P Nagarajan IAS
Vigilance Commissioner,
Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department
Secretariat, Chennai - 600 009
Tamilnadu
INDIA
Tel: +91 44 5671548 (O) / 28203443 (R)          
Fax: +91 44 25673437
E-mail: vcsec@tn.gov.in

6. Mr. Theo C. van Boven
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9016
E-mail: secrt.hchr@unog.ch

Sample Letter:

Dear

Re. Arbitrary arrest, illegal detention, inhuman torture resulting in custodial death of Mr. Velraj

Name of the victim: Mr. Velraj, 38, formerly residing at Ervadi Village, Tirunelveli district, Tamilnadu, India
Perpetrators: Constables Mr. Chelladurai; Mr. Kanthasamy; Mr. Senthil Murugan; Mr. Sivathambu; and Inspector of the Police Mr. J. Subramaniam attached to the Ervadi Police Station in Tirunalveli District
Date of incident: 30 October 2002

I am shocked to learn about the torture of Mr. Velraj (38), residing at Ervadi village, Tirunelveli district, Tamilnadu, India on 30 October 2002. He was arbitrarily arrested by the police and died in custody after being severely tortured.

On 30 October 2002, Mr. Velraj was arrested by four Special Branch police constables from the Ervadi Police Station at his house and the next day he died at the police station. According the the victim¡¦s wife, she saw the body of her husband, which had a swollen face and testicles and bruises on his left shoulder. The police claimed that Velraj died of cardiac arrest while he was in custody. However, it was revealed that the victim had no history of any illness. The victim's family has also been denied of their right to seeing the postmortem report and the report of inquest by the Sub Divisional Magistrate. More seriously, the police constables, who are responsible for torturing the victim, were promoted as recognition of their deed.

I urge you to initiate an immediate and impartial investigation of this case and bring the perpetrators named above to justice. I also urge you to provide compensation to the victim's family. I further urge the Indian government to sign and ratify the Convention Against Torture and take strong action in order to end the custom of arbitrary arrest and torture by the police which frequently happens in the country.

Sincerely yours,



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Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-60-2003
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

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