Police instructed against custodial torture, says CM

‘Govt has not attempted to hide anything’

Police personnel have been instructed against unnecessarily torturing people psychologically and physically, who are taken to police stations for enquiry but to follow the guidelines framed by the Supreme Court in this regard, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said in the State Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

“Members of the House are aware of the swift steps over ‘lock-up deaths’ which happened recently. This government does not attempt to cover up anything. As far as we are concerned, we have issued strong instructions to prevent ‘lock-up deaths’ in the future,” Mr. Stalin said.

Replying to the debate on the demand for grants on Home Department, Mr. Stalin said there were eight police custodial deaths during 2017, 12 during 2018, 11 in 2019, six in 2020, five last year and four so far this year. “These deaths under any governments cannot be justified,” he said.

Persons arrested by the police should not be handled with personal grudge against them, he said. Since most of the crimes are circumstantial, police should undertake efforts to make the accused persons realise their mistakes, he added.

“Even if a policeman somewhere committed a mistake, allegations would be made against this government. Even if we take action against him, it would be spoken as if it is a blot on this government. So, every police personnel should function without giving scope for any such criticism,” he appealed.

Only because the law and order situation was maintained well, industries that went out of the State were now returning to Tamil Nadu, the Chief Minister contended.

He has instructed the police personnel to control those who intend to instigate violence on political, communal or caste lines, with an iron fist.