Abstract
This paper, comprising of three parts, evaluates torture and inhumane punishments
prevalent during the three important phases of history of South Asia namely
ancient India, medieval India and British India. In the Indian Sub-continent, the
torture as a major technique of investigation had a long history. The first
government-backed study of the practice of torture by the police in the history of
modern India, the Madras Torture Commission Report of 1855, revealed that the
use of torture and coercion in Indian society was not a novel introduction brought
about by British Rule but it has a long history and predates colonization. In the
light of the recommendations of the report, the confession under police custody
was not admissible as an evidence under Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, and
the Indian Evidence Act 1872. Since the incorporation of this safeguard in these
penal laws, during the last quarter of the twentieth century, unfortunately, it has
proved less than a complete remedy and custodial violence or torture remained an
integral part of police operation. In the name of enlightenment and civilizing India,
the British concerned the mutilation and other inhumane punishments in vogue in
India. This paper argues that the form of torture during British colonial period in
India replaced it was different. It was carried out outside the public domain, in the
context of policing operations, prison discipline, transport for life and arbitrary
application of the death penalty.
Qadeer Alam. (2018) Historical Overview of Torture and Inhuman Punishments in Indian Sub-continent, Journal of the Punjab University Historical Society, Volume 31, Issue 2.
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