The Andhra Pradesh High Court (HC) held in the Gade Sai Krishna custodial death case that the State has a duty to enforce the human rights of citizens and provide for a fair and impartial investigation against any person accused of committing a cognizable offence, which may include its own officers.

“In certain situations, even a witness to a crime may seek protection, and [they] should be granted protection by the State,” a Division Bench comprising Justices Ravinath Tilhari and Alapati Giridhar observed, while expressing the opinion that custodial torture is a naked violation of human dignity and degradation, and it destroys individual personality.

“It is a calculated assault on human dignity, and whenever human dignity is wounded, civilisation takes a step backwards,” they said.

The judges noted that when the Special Police Act (SPA) itself provided for the CBI to take up the investigation of a crime which is otherwise within the jurisdiction of the local (AP) police, subject to the consent of the State, the court can also exercise its constitutional power of judicial review and direct the CBI to probe cases that are within the State’s jurisdiction.

“The power of the HC under Article 226 of the Constitution cannot be taken away, curtailed or diluted by Section 6 of the SPA. Therefore, the exercise of the power of judicial review by the HC does not amount to infringement of either the doctrine of separation of powers or the federal structure,” the judges asserted. Besides, the court stated that the Sai Krishna case presented an extraordinary situation that warranted a CBI probe.

With regard to custodial violence, the court said it has to be tackled from two ends: by taking measures that are remedial including award of compensation, and remove the very causes of violence.

It suggested that the following steps, among others, could prove to be effective preventive measures: reorientation of police training that brings in the mindset required to recognise and respect human rights, continuous monitoring of the functioning of lower-level police officers to ensure adherence to lawful methods of investigation, introduction of simple and foolproof procedures for prompt registration of FIRs relating to all crimes and equipping the police with modern methods of record maintenance to avoid manipulations, insertions, substitutions and antedating in regard to FIRs, inquest proceedings, post-mortem reports and the like.