A total of 255 people died in police custody between 2017 and 2019, but only three police personnel have been convicted in these cases, latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows.
Data from 2019 shows that 49 cases of human rights violation were lodged against various police departments across the country, for crimes like encounter killings, custodial deaths, illegal detention, torture by police, extortion, among others. A total of 85 people died in police custody that year for which 23 arrests were made. However, chargesheets were filed against just eight police personnel and none of the cases resulted in a conviction.
Similarly, in the previous year, 70 people were killed in police custody. A total of 89 cases were filed and 40 arrests were made and chargesheets were filed against 26 policemen. However, no police personnel was convicted in these cases. In 2017, when 100 people were reported dead in police custody, a total of 57 police personnel were arrested and chargesheets were filed in 29 cases against 48 policemen. Of these, one was acquitted and three were convicted.
For the year 2019, most cases of custodial deaths were reported from Tamil Nadu (11), while in 2018, most were reported from Gujarat (14). In 2017, Andhra Pradesh topped the list with 27 cases.
According to the data, the reasons given for the deaths of people who were in remand and those who were in police custody but not on remand was due to illnesses (35), followed by suicides (32).
For the 85 custodial deaths that were reported in 2019, only 3 police personnel were arrested and chargesheets were filed in only 2 cases.
In June this year, two cases of custodial deaths, of a man and his son, allegedly due to police torture were reported from Tamil Nadu. A month later, gangster Vikas Dubey, arrested for the killing eight policemen, was shot dead in a police encounter.
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