Custodial deaths in India: Uttar Pradesh tops the list

India reported 1840 custodial deaths in the year 2020-21 and Uttar Pradesh tops in it. This is official data of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Nityanand Rai, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs releases state-wise data of custodial deaths while answering his party colleagues in the Monsoon session of Lok Sabha on 27 July 2021.

According to the guidelines issued by the National Human Rights Commission, every death in custody, police or judicial, natural or otherwise, is to be reported to the Commission within 24 hours of its occurrence. If an inquiry by the Commission into police/judicial custody discloses negligence by a public servant, the Commission recommends to authorities of Central/State governments for initiation of proceedings for prosecution against erring public servants. The disciplinary action against the erring public servant is to be taken by the respective state government as per extant rules, procedures etc.

Surprisingly, In 2019, National Crime Records Bureau stated that there were no custodial deaths in Uttar Pradesh and the country. But, the data shared by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in response to a question in the Lok Sabha said there were 400 Judicial deaths and 3 police custodial deaths in the year 2019.

In terms of data on custodial deaths, Uttar Pradesh tops in the country by having 12 police custodial deaths (PCD), and 452 judicial custodial deaths (JCD) in 2018-19, 3 PCD and 400 JCD in 2019-20, 8 PCD and 443 JCD in 2020-21. For the year 2021, Bihar: 156 JCD and 3 PCD, Madhya Pradesh: 155 JCD and 8 PCD, Maharashtra: 130 JCD and 13 PCD, Gujarat: 82 JCD and 17 PCD, Haryana: 46 JCD and 3 PCD, Punjab: 70 JCD and 2 PCD.

While talking to The Daily Guardian, a Senior Forensic Medicine Doctor of KGMC, Lucknow, on the condition of anonymity, says, “These custodial deaths are not even a third of actual deaths. What police do is that when a person dies, they take him to the hospital and then show on paper that he died inside the hospital and doctors write ‘died in hospital’ in the report.”