AHMEDABAD: Figures from the Union home ministry on custodial violence shows a sorry state of Gujarat, which stood second in the entire country in terms of deaths in police custody this year.
Gujarat with 21 deaths in police custody is next only to Maharashtra, which reported 26 such deaths till November 15 this year.
According to figures from the Union home ministry, the country reported 151 deaths in police custody and Gujarat accounted for nearly 14%.
Bihar. which reported 18 deaths in police custody, and Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh with 11 deaths each, are better off than Gujarat.
Figures tabled before the Lok Sabha on Tuesday indicated that Gujarat is still witnessing incidents of custodial torture.
In January this year, Kutch police drew flak over two men, suspects in a housebreak case, being beaten to death. A judicial inquiry was ordered after this.
In September, a youth who was picked up by Aravalli police for questioning in connection with a grenade blast inquiry, was found hanging from a tree. His family alleged that the youth committed suicide as he could not bear the police torture.
The same month, another custodial death was reported in Godhra, Panchmahal district. Qasim Hayat, who was arrested for selling beef, was found hanging himself from a piece of cloth in Godhra police station.
Apart from incidents of torture in lock-ups, the state also does not have a good picture in terms of deaths in judicial custody or in jails.
Between the financial years 2018-19 and 2020-21, Gujarat reported 202 deaths in various jails across the state.
Crime in India in 2020, a report by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), also revealed that the number of custodial deaths in Gujarat was the highest in 2020. Fifteen persons, who were in police custody without remand, died in various districts of the state in 2020.
