Torture and the law: An indian perspective.

Torture of a fellow human being by another human being is essentially an instrument to impose the will of the ‘strong’ over the ‘weak’. Over the years, the incidence of torture has only increased, with the methods becoming highly complex, involving psychical and/or physical exhaustion. These include deprivation of sleep, food and drink; sometimes combined with forced physical activities or forced standing for hours or even days. Freedom of movement and perception is restricted by confining the person to a very small dark room and his self-esteem is eroded by deprivation of toilet facilities and clothing or by constant verbal abuse. Inspite of checks posed by various laws including the International Humanitarian Law, such inhuman practices continue unabated. This article describes the Indian scenario of this world-wide phenomenon, with a view to sensitize the readers about this scourge on the society.

Torture from legal viewpoint in the eyes of Human Rights Commission.

The author describes the legal view points against torture in national and international level and gives a detailed idea of how Human Rights Commission views torture.

Torture in the eyes of a medicologist.

Usual torture victims examined by doctors do not have any physical evidence but careful history concerning the method of torture and their effect may provide important evidence. Psychological assessment is very important and will invariably reveal torture. The injury if present to be evaluated against the history and documented as common clinical documentation. Proper documentation is the best campaign of a doctor against torture.