-: [rti4empowerment] Fwd: PROTECTION OF HUMAN DIGNITY- PREVENTION OF TORTURES

To:

To,

All the Chairpersons,

Human Rights Commission

In The Republic of India

Sir,

PROTECTION OF HUMAN DIGNITY- PREVENTION OF TORTURES

It is a matter of pleasure for all of us that protection of Human Rights Act has been enacted to protect the human dignity. But sheer violation of human rights continues, and the Country registers about 9000 custodial deaths and more than 100000 cases of violation of human rights. However paltry cases are decided with compensation to victims. The term torture has not been defined in any law of the land; this has been a boon for the perpetrators of torture.

Government of Philippines has enacted an exhaustive and comprehensive law -Anti-torture Act, 2009 to combat with the menace of tortures. Salient features of the Act are as under:

SEC. 4. Acts of Torture.-- For purposes of this Act, torture shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(a) Physical torture is a form of treatment or punishment inflicted by a person in authority or agent of a person in authority upon another in his/her custody that causes severe pain, exhaustion, disability or dysfunction of one or more parts of the body, such as:

(1) Systematic beating, headbanging, punching, kicking, striking with truncheon or rifle butt or other similar objects, and jumping on the stomach;

(2) Food deprivation or forcible feeding with spoiled food, animal or human excreta and other stuff or substances not normally eaten;

(3) Electric shock;

(4) Cigarette burning; burning by electrically heated rods, hot oil, acid; by the rubbing of pepper or other chemical substancea on mucous membranes, or acids or spices directly on the wound(s);

(5) The submersion of the head in water or water polluted with excrement, urine, vomit and/or blood until the brink of suffocation;

(6) Being tied or forced to assume fixed and stressful bodily position;

(7) Rape and sexual abuse, including the insertion of foreign objects into the sex organ or rectum, or electrical torture of the genitals;

(8) Mutilation or amputation of the essential parts of the body such as the genitalia, ear, tongue, etc.;

(9) Dental torture or the forced extraction of the teeth;

(10) Pulling out of fingernails;

(11) Harmful exposure to the elements such as sunlight and extreme cold;

(12) The use of plastic bag and other materials placed over the head to the point of asphyxiation;

(13) The use of psychoactive drugs to change the perception, memory, alertness or will of a person, such as:

(i) The administration of drugs to induce confession and/or reduce mental competency; or

(ii) The use of drugs to induce extreme pain or certain symptoms of a disease; and

(14) Other analogous acts of physical torture; and

(b) "Mental/Psychological Torture" refers to acts committed by a person in authority or agent of a person in authority which are calculated to affect or confuse the mind and/or undermine a person's dignity and morale, such as:

(1) Blindfolding;

(2)Threatening a person(s) or his/her relative(s) with bodily harm execution or other wrongful acts;

(3) Confinement in solitary cells or secret detention places;

(4) Prolonged interrogation;

(5) Preparing a prisoner for a "show trial", public display or public humiliation of a detainee or prisoner;

(6) Causing unscheduled transfer of a person deprived of liberty from one place to another, creating the belief that he/she shall be summarily executed;

(7) Maltreating a member/s of a person's family;

(8) Causing the torture sessions to be witnessed by the person's family, relatives or any third party;

(9) Denial of sleep/rest;

(10) Shame infliction such as stripping the person naked, parading him/her in public places, shaving the victim's head or putting marks on his/her body against his/her will;

(11) Deliberately prohibiting the victim to communicate with any member of his/her family; and '

(12) Other analogous acts of mental/psychological torture.

SEC. 5. Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. -, Other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment refers to a deliberate and aggravated treatment or punishment not enumerated under Section 4 of this Act, inflicted by a person in authority or agent of a person in authority against another person in custody, which attains a level of severity sufficient to cause suffering, gross humiliation or debasement to the latter. The assessment of the level of severity shall depend on all the circumstances of the case; including the duration of the treatment or punishment, its physical and mental effects and, in some cases, the sex, religion, age and state of health of the victim.

SEC. 6. Freedom from Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman. and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, An Absolute Right. - Torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment as criminal acts shall apply to all circumstances. A state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability, or any other public emergency, or a document or any determination comprising an "order of battle" shall not and can never be invoked as a justification for torture and other cruel inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.

SEC. 7. Prohibited Detention. - Secret detention places solitary confinement, incommunicado or other similar forms of detention, where torture may be carried out with impunity, are hereby prohibited.

Since the term torture has not been defined in Indian law we may rely upon and take beneficial assistance of the above definitions from this legislation to protect the Human Dignity (till legislation be passed in our country) whenever a question arises as to torture and protection of Human Rights. Please apprise me of the action taken by your kind honour in this behalf and oblige.

With regards,

Yours faithfully

Mani Ram Sharma Dated 01.04.2013

Advocate

Behind Roadways Depot

Sardarshahar -331403

Distt. Churu (Raj)