#dnaEdit: Custodial impunity

The charges of custodial rape and extortion against three Mumbai police officers, is a chilling example of the enormous powers of impunity wielded by the men in khaki. The woman — a model and aspiring actor — was picked up by cops after being accused of prostitution. Subsequently, one of them allegedly raped her in a police station and all of them allegedly extorted Rs4.5 lakh from the victim. To those questioning her delay of 17 days in informing Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria of the crime, here’s the answer: that has no bearing on the crime itself. As for those pointing fingers at her occupation to suggest that she brought it upon herself, these reflect the deeply entrenched patriarchal and perverse mindset. For rape victims, the trauma of suffering rape is accentuated by what follows after. Despite being a medico-legal case, the doctors attending on her allegedly failed to inform police officers stationed there, and even behaved callously towards her. There is a systemic failure in the way we deal with and perceive the victims of sexual violence. Merely demanding punishment for the guilty cops will not suffice; there is a deeper problem of custodial torture that must be addressed forthwith. After Maria’s intervention, the Mumbai Police have responded by transferring two senior police officers for failing to exercise control over the police station under their jurisdiction. A new guideline, requiring officers to seek a DCP’s approval before making arrests under the Immoral Trafficking Act has also been issued. But this appears to be a knee-jerk response to the overall context of dealing with sexual crimes, especially those committed in police custody.

The Mumbai case has once again drawn attention to the critical importance of installing adequate CCTV cameras at police stations. It has been reported that the Sakinaka police station had a CCTV camera, but whether the footage will provide any evidence will only be revealed in the course of the investigation. The long pending audit of all police stations with a view to ensuring women’s safety is now an absolute imperative. That a policewoman at the station is also an alleged accomplice in the crime is hardly surprising. Her actions needs to be assessed in the context of the relatively fewer numbers of women in the police force that makes the nominal presence of a lone woman constable at a police station at night only a superficial attempt at ensuring women’s safety. Recall that Maharashtra was among the first states to introduce 33 per cent reservation for women in the police force. Perhaps, the home minister should tell us what the latest percentage of women constables and officers is.

The amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code in 2009 advised video-recording of statements made by the accused to police officers. Unless this is made mandatory, the police force will never comply with such a provision. In fact, the differences in statistics collected by the National Crime Records Bureau and the complaints received by the National Human Rights Commission point to the nature of the problem. According to NCRB data collected from police stations, only 10 or so custodial rapes have been recorded between 2003 and 2013, and just a hundred-odd custodial deaths every year. In contrast, the NHRC data points to 14,231 custodial deaths (both judicial and police) between 2001 and 2010 and 39 recorded cases of rape between 2006 and 2010. What would explain the huge discrepancy in these numbers? It would appear that the criminal justice system is not working and that the NHRC has become a more receptive forum to get justice. It was in Maharashtra that Mathura, a tribal girl, was raped in police custody, in 1972. The public outcry over the verdict in the case helped frame the discourse on rape and custodial rape within a gender perspective. Despite the innumerable laws and amendments since, the message that goes out over 43 years later is that even urban police stations are not safe for women.