1,888 custodial deaths in India over last 20 years but only 26 cops convicted: Official data

In the last 20 years, 1,888 custodial deaths have been reported across India. However, official data shows that only 26 police personnel have been convicted in custodial death cases in the same period.

In the last 20 years, 1,888 custodial deaths have been reported across India. In 893 of these instances, cases were registered against police personnel. A total of 358 police personnel were charge-sheeted in cases of custodial deaths in this period. However, only 26 police personnel have been convicted for custodial deaths in the last 20 years in India, as per official data.

Further, the data shows that 1,185 of these reported 1,888 custodial deaths fall under the ‘persons not on remand’ category while 703 cases come under the ‘persons in remand’ category. This means that more than 60 per cent of the reported deaths in custody over the last 20 years in India pertained to those who had not even been produced before court once when they died.