The present Bill is a big step towards preventing any form torture and punishes any act of torture. However, it fails to address acts such as cruel or degrading treatment.
Section 20 of the Bill needs reconsideration. A minimum and maximum punishment and fine should be stipulated so as to narrow down the discretionary power in the judicial authorities.
Section 22 of the Bill must be amended to give the courts the authority to pass an interim relief. According to Section 23 the government is supposed to give compensation within a year. The period of one year for execution for the final order is too long and will not meet ends of justice. To deter frivolous torture claims, Section 31, is irrelevant as it is claims for torture are far and few. This provision might instead deter people from making real claims.
The current Bill still suffers from procedural flaws. The redressal mechanism must be streamlined. The legal procedures deter the victims from making any complaints. Further, the definition of torture is narrow and exhaustive. The methods of torture are ever evolving and hard to define all forms of torture. It should be indicative of what all might be a form of torture.
The main difficulty in justice administration is the implementation of the existing laws. As of now very few cases have been registered in the courts and very few cases have had the final order. In light of these circumstances, a special bench must be set up for hearing complaints regarding torture and deliver its judgment within a stipulated time frame.
The victims are left in dark. The victim or victim’s family members have no involvement in the proceedings and dependent on the State to prosecute. The Bill must give some kind of control to them over the course of the prosecution. This will eliminate or reduce errors in government attorneys who are already over burdened with prosecution cases. again special care must be taken while dealing cases of torture to females and children. Such proceedings must be in camera proceeding to protect female and child victims
