Indian government should ensure torture law meets international standards.

Amnesty International has urged the Indian government to help end the routine torture of those held by police and prison authorities by ensuring the new Prevention of Torture Bill in India, 2010 meets international standards before adopting it.

The Bill, which is expected to be considered by the Select Committee of the Upper House (Rayja Sabha) of the Indian Parliament on 17 October, will address many forms of torture routinely employed by Indian police and prison officials. The Bill was passed by the Lower house (Lok Sabha) on 6 May 2010.

"If India is serious about its aspiration to be a regional and global power, it needs to address the issue of torture and ensure that the human rights of those it arrests and detains are protected," said Madhu Malhotra, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Deputy Programme Director.

Amnesty International said the Bill must be amended to bring it in line with international standards, including limiting torture to practices causing physical suffering, keeping a six-month deadline for making complaints about torture and not annulling current provisions which allow law enforcement officials and security forces virtual immunity against prosecution for perpetrating torture and recommends solutions.

Torture in state detention is endemic in India, involving a range of practices including shackling, beatings and the administration of electric shocks. Disadvantaged and maginalized groups including women, Dalits, Adivasis and suspected members of armed opposition groups are those most commonly abused.

According to official reports, 127 people died in police custody in India in 2008-09, although the figure could be higher since several states failed to report such deaths.

Torture is also reportedly widespread in prisons. The National Human Rights Commission registered 1,596 complaints of torture of prisoners in 2008-09. The number of deaths due to torture is not routinely reported.

The vast majority of cases of torture inflicted on detained people in India are unlawful and punishable under current Indian law, however prosecutions are extremely rare.

Law enforcement personnel enjoy virtual immunity from prosecution for torture and other human rights abuses, and prosecutions remain sporadic and rare.

In "disturbed areas", such as Jammu and Kashmir and the north-eastern states where the Armed Forces Special Powers Act is in effect, Armed Forces personnel enjoy additional immunity protection and there is virtually no accountability for violations.

In 1996, the Indian Supreme Court issued specific guidelines to authorities safeguarding detainee's rights in all cases of arrest or detention, however they are seldom enforced.
There is also a lack of effective systems to independently monitor the conduct of the authorities with regards to torture and other forms of mistreatment.

The Prevention of Torture Bill in India, 2010 is meant to bring India closer in line with the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. India signed the Convention in 1997 but has yet to ratify it.

"The Indian government should adopt this Bill to help address key issues, but more needs to be done to ensure India is able to meet international conventions against torture," said Madhu Malhotra.

"The Indian government further needs to ratify the UN Convention Against Torture ensuring people are no longer mistreated while they are detained."

Ayodhya: The No War Zone That Was.

Translating roughly from Sanskrit, Ayodhya, literally, is the land where there are no wars (Yudh). This is where the Hindu mythical icon Rama is said to have been born, more a paragon of virile virtues than a religious figure initially, but one whose place of birth merited worship- the Rama Janmabhoomi. This is where Hindus of the pre-Mughal era erected a complex for worship of this deity, and where, in the fifteenth century, Babur's henchmen built a mosque, strangely enough acknowledging that the site had in fact been a sacrosanct one for their Hindu brethren. Centuries later, the Hindu majority flared up in insurgency and demolished the Babri mosque in December 1992, shortly after a Bhartiya Janta Party led traditional Kar Seva. Communal riots broke out in as many as two dozen Indian cities as far apart as Mumbai and Faizabad.

And now, after close to two decades of a legal battle that has been quite a vendetta, India's Supreme Court deigned to assign a third of the 2.77 acre property that was the mosque to Ram Lala temple authorities, and the same fragment to the Sunni Wakf and the Nirmohi Akhara. How and why Hanuman was dragged into this debate befuddles me; the explanation that he was Rama's devotee seems illogical and weak. And the Akhara men call themselves "unattached", I presume to communalism, but they did not show any apathy towards acquiring land after having squeezed themselves into the lawsuit in 1985, and setting off a spate of fire across the country's religious minority.
What will be done with the land redistributed to two generally conflicting communities remains to be seen. The verdict has all the potential to generate ferment across the subcontinent- the Muslim minority might suffer from feelings of being denied what was "rightfully" theirs. The winning Hindu might gloat about being granted what was similarly theirs, and provoke their Islamic counterparts. Whether siphoning of resources that come with the property happens remains to be seen. Our hopes and prayers are with those who do not want the mythic Ayodhya, the war-free land, to be bathed in blood again.