JUDGMENT

ARIJIT PASAYAT, J. — “If you once forfeit the confidence of our fellow citizens you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time,” said Abraham Lincoln. This Court in Raghubir Singh v. State of Haryana (AIR 1980 SC 1087), took note of these immortal observations while deprecating custodial tor¬ture by the police.

2. Custodial violence, torture and abuse of police power are not peculiar to this country, but it is widespread. It has been the concern of international community because the problem is universal and the challenge is almost global. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 which marked the emergence of a worldwide trend of protection and guarantee of certain basic human rights stipulates in Art. 5 that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or puni¬shment.” Despite this pious declaration, the crime continues unabated, though every civilized nation shows its concern and makes efforts for its eradication.

3. If it is assuming alarming proportions, now a days, all around it is merely on account of the devilish devices adopted by those at the helm of affairs who proclaim from roof tops to be the defenders of democracy and protectors of peoples' rights and yet do not hesitate to condescend behind the screen to let loose their men in uniform to settle personal scores, feigning igno¬rance of what happens and pretending to be peace loving puritans and saviours of citizens' rights.

4. Article 21 which is one of the luminary provisions in the Constitution of India, 1950 (in short the ‘Constitution’) and is a part of the scheme for fundamental rights occupies a place of pride in the Constitution. The article mandates that no person shall be deprived of his life and personal liberty except accord¬ing to the procedure established by law. This sacred and cher¬ished right i.e., personal liberty was an important role to play in the life of every citizen. Life or personal liberty includes a right to live with human dignity. There is an inbuilt guarantee against torture or assault by the State or its functionaries. Chapter V of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short the ‘Code’) deals with the powers of arrest of persons and the safeguards required to be followed by the police to protect the inter¬est of the arrested person. Articles 20(3) and 22 of the Consti¬tution further manifest the constitutional protection extended to every citizen and the guarantees held out for making life meaningful and not a mere animal existence. It is therefore difficult to comprehend how torture and custodial violence can be permitted to defy the rights flowing from the Constitution. The dehumaniz¬ing torture, assault and death in custody which have assumed alarming proportions raise serious questions about the credibili¬ty of rule of law and administration of criminal justice system. The community rightly gets disturbed. The cry for justice becomes louder and warrants immediate remedial measures. This Court has in a large number of cases expressed concern at the atrocities perpetuated by the protectors of law. Justice Brandies’s observa¬tion which have become classic are in following immortal words :

“Government as the omnipotent and omnipresent teacher teaches the whole people by it example, if the Government becomes a law breaker, its breeds contempt for law, it invites every man to become a law into himself”. (in (1928) 277 US 438, quoted in (1961) 367 US 643 at 659).

5. The diabolic recurrence of police torture resulting in a terrible scars in the minds of common citizens that their lives and liberty are under a new and unwarranted peril because guard¬ians of law destroy the human rights by custodial violence and torture and invariably resulting in death. The vulnerability of human rights assumes a traumatic torture when func¬tionaries of