A recent report by a global alliance of anti-torture organisations has classified India as a “high risk” country in the Global Torture Index, citing frequent incidents of severe beatings, forced confessions, and custodial deaths, particularly targeting marginalised communities, due to India’s political and institutional framework, which significantly contributes to the ongoing torture crisis.
The Global Torture Index, developed by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), released on Thursday (June 26) assesses the risk of torture and other ill-treatment worldwide using seven thematic pillars, including, political commitment against torture, ending police brutality and institutional violence, freedom from torture in detention, ending impunity, victims’ rights, protection for all, and the right to defend and civic space.
The index highlights the routine misuse of laws like the UAPA by agencies such as the NIA and CBI, the use of unofficial detention sites, chronic prison overcrowding, and widespread discrimination, especially against marginalised groups and human rights defenders, while also criticising the National Human Rights Commission for failing to address these abuses.
The report highlights that in 2024, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recorded 2,739 custodial deaths, following approximately 2,400 such deaths in 2023. In 2022, 1,995 prisoners reportedly died in judicial custody, including 159 unnatural deaths. Since 2018, at least 61 human rights defenders have been detained under the UAPA, including in high-profile cases such as that of Professor G.N. Saibaba, who was imprisoned despite having a severe disability and later died in custody, and journalist Siddique Kappan, who was held for two years for investigating caste-based violence.
The report further underscores that the rights of victims of torture and ill-treatment remain severely restricted, as India lacks a comprehensive law defining victims of torture, leaving most survivors without meaningful redress or rehabilitation.
They observed that existing complaint mechanisms are described as ineffective and often result in reprisals against those who come forward. Although the NHRC is in place, and criticised it for lacking sufficient independence and failing to adequately address the needs of victims.
“India demonstrates insufficient political commitment to effectively preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (CIDTP),” alleged the report.
The fact sheet also criticised India’s recent overhaul of its criminal legal framework, which introduced three new laws: the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), replacing the Indian Penal Code (including provisions like Section 120 on extorting confessions), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), replacing the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 (BSB), replacing the Indian Evidence Act.
“Police brutality and institutional violence remain prevalent and systemic in India, characterised by frequent incidents of torture, ill-treatment and extrajudicial killings by law enforcement officials,” said the report.
The report notes that in the Parimvir Singh v. Baljit Singh case (December 2020), the Supreme Court of India issued clear guidelines mandating the installation of CCTV cameras in all police stations and central investigative agency offices, including specifications on camera placement, technical standards, and secure storage and access to footage. However, compliance remains alarmingly poor, with 2,701 police stations still lacking any CCTV coverage. Even in stations where cameras have been installed, most reportedly fail to meet the Court’s mandated standards.
According to the report, custodial violence resulting in death often occurs during detainee transfers, inside police stations, or even in hospitals. Law enforcement officers frequently employ illegal practices, such as physical beatings and threats, to extract information before and during arrests.
This echoed the “Status of Policing in India” Report 2025, which presented alarming data about police officers’ attitudes, revealing widespread justification and acceptance of torture within the force.
Improper use of firearms has led to severe injuries and fatalities, disproportionately affecting marginalised communities, including Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, LGBTQIA+ individuals, migrant labourers, and the homeless. These groups are routinely subjected to brutal physical abuse, invasive body searches, and discriminatory policing.
The report also highlights the widespread use of unofficial detention sites, such as abandoned buildings, government offices, and hotel rooms, where police often carry out beatings and coercive tactics to extract forced confessions.
Despite judicial interventions, the report highlights that accountability for custodial abuse in India remains alarmingly low. The National Human Rights Commission recorded approximately 2,739 custodial deaths in 2024 and around 2,400 in 2023.
Police officers often celebrated as “encounter specialists” are reportedly rewarded with promotions for carrying out extrajudicial killings, reflecting “deep institutional complicity.”
Meanwhile, human rights defenders, especially those advocating on land and environmental issues, frequently face preventive detention, torture, and unlawful arrests, further illustrating the shrinking space for dissent and justice
“A total of 1,995 prisoners died in judicial custody in 2022 alone, including 159 unnatural deaths, highlighting dangerous conditions in detention facilities,” they said.
According to the report, the 2019 amendment to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) has enabled “the arbitrary labelling of activists as terrorists,” further intensifying the suppression of dissent in India.
The report described the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as “a regressive anti-terrorism law,” stating that it has significantly worsened conditions by allowing authorities to designate individuals, including activists and human rights defenders, as terrorists.
Since 2018, at least 61 human rights defenders have been jailed under the UAPA and other terror or security laws.
The report also highlights rampant torture and extrajudicial killings by state forces in West Bengal’s border areas, where legal impunity for the BSF obstructs justice.
While the Constitution prohibits torture, the report notes that there is no specific national legislation criminalising torture or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment (CIDTP).
It further highlights that India has not ratified key international treaties, including the UN Convention Against Torture (UNCAT) and its Optional Protocol, undermining efforts to ensure accountability and protection for victims.
While the country has formally invited international oversight, the report notes that India effectively blocks visits by mechanisms such as the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, signalling a lack of political will to address torture in a comprehensive manner.
“India has minimum engagement with international oversight mechanisms. Although the government formally invited the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture to visit the country, it has effectively prevented such visits from occurring,” reads the report.
They alleged that India has responded to fewer than 50% of communications from the Rapporteur over the last five years and provided minimal substantive information.
The report also sheds light on the issue of chronic overcrowding in Indian prisons, which worsens the overall conditions of detention. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) prison statistics for 2022, prisons are operating at an average national occupancy rate of 131.4%.
This severe overcrowding, they note, “disproportionately impacts poorer inmates, who suffer severely from inadequate food, clothing and bedding, further deteriorating their living conditions.”
Discrimination against marginalised communities in Indian prisons remains alarmingly widespread, driven by caste, religion, economic status, disabilities, and sexual orientation, a reality the report noted with concern, citing the case of Professor B.N. Saibaba, who, despite being 90% disabled and wheelchair-bound, spent over a decade in incarceration without adequate facilities, severely worsening his health.
Professor B.N. Saibaba was arbitrarily arrested in Delhi on May 9, 2014, and sentenced to life imprisonment on March 7, 2017, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for alleged conspiracy and membership of a terrorist organisation and his left arm had become paralysed due to nerve damage and lack of adequate medical care in 2018.
The report stated that impunity for torture remains widespread in India, driven by major legal and institutional shortcomings, including the absence of comprehensive laws explicitly criminalising torture, with such cases typically recorded as deaths in police or judicial custody, and further compounded by the lack of victim and witness protection, which discourages reporting.
“Institutional mechanisms, including the National and State Human Rights Commissions, lack jurisdiction over violations by armed forces, creating further shortcomings in accountability,” said the report, highlighting that during its 45th session in March 2025, the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) recommended downgrading India’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) from ‘A’ to ‘B’ status, citing concerns over accountability gaps in armed forces’ violations, the involvement of police officers in NHRC investigations compromising its impartiality, and the commission’s failure to address shrinking civic space and the rising targeting of human rights defenders, journalists, and perceived critics.
They further noted that the limited forensic investigation capacity complicates the issue, as there is no national legislation governing forensic institutes or mandating adherence to international standards, creating a challenge to accurate and impartial evidence gathering in torture investigations.
“Cases against alleged perpetrators infrequently result in convictions, reinforcing impunity. Reprisals such as intimidation and stigmatisation of victims, witnesses and lawyers are common, and police and prosecutors often actively discourage lodging complaints,” the report noted.
According to the report, India lacks a comprehensive national law defining victims of torture, and existing protections are scattered and inadequately implemented, severely limiting victims’ access to justice and effective remedies.
They also highlights widespread human rights violations in India, including rising honour killings, gender-based violence, child exploitation, mistreatment of Adivasi communities, custodial torture of activists and journalists under anti-terror laws, and systemic failures in legal protections and detention oversight.
Despite constitutional protections guaranteeing freedom of speech, expression, assembly, and association, human rights defenders (HRDs) and civil society organisations in India “frequently face severe restrictions and intimidation,” the report noted.
Over 30,000 NGOs have lost their operational capabilities “due to the misuse of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010,” especially following the restrictive 2020 amendment. Laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and various preventive detention statutes are “routinely misused by agencies like the NIA and CBI,” significantly curtailing civic freedoms.
“HRDs seeking justice for victims of past state atrocities, including the 2002 Gujarat riots, have been jailed in direct reprisal for their efforts,” the report said.
It pointed to high-profile cases such as the Bhima Koregaon arrests, in which activists, lawyers, and researchers have remained incarcerated for over five years, and to Kashmiri HRD Khurram Parvez, who has spent more than three years in jail.
The report also noted the case of Journalist Siddique Kappan “was jailed for two years merely for attempting to report on caste violence,” and prominent activists like Teesta Setalvad and ex-IPS officer Srikumar were held in judicial custody for over 10 weeks after Supreme Court references.
Similarly, a very recent report by Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute has revealed systemic reprisals against journalists by the Indian state machinery through illegal detentions, false allegations, and other forms of harassment.
According to the index, reprisals against HRDs monitoring public assemblies,such as farmers’ protests, anti-Sterlite demonstrations, Odisha’s anti-Jindal movement, and Melma farmers’ agitation, are “common and include arbitrary arrests, denial of medical access, and judicial harassment.”
The National Human Rights Commission, responsible for addressing such abuses, “has failed to adequately respond to HRD-related complaints,” drawing criticism from GANHRI and exposing systemic challenges to human rights advocacy in India.
The Global Torture Index rates India’s access to information as “concealed,” citing significant barriers to transparency and data availability on human rights violations.
The Global Torture Index offers five key recommendations to India aimed at strengthening its anti-torture framework.
These include the ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, its Optional Protocol, and the Convention on Enforced Disappearances, the implementation of the Méndez Principles on Effective Interviewing and the training of law enforcement to manage mass assemblies in line with international standards and the cessation of the misuse of anti-terrorism and preventive detention laws against human rights defenders
Fourthly, the Index recommends mandating independent judicial investigations into all custodial deaths, ensuring transparency by providing families with post-mortem reports and video recordings and finally, amending the Protection of Human Rights Act to align with GANHRI’s recommendations, so that the National Human Rights Commission operates with full independence, autonomy, and effective investigative powers.
At the launch of the Global Torture Index in Geneva on June 25, Henri Tiphagne, Executive Director of People’s Watch, the collaborating organisations in India for the Index, delivered a sharp condemnation of India’s custodial torture record, stating that despite having numerous human rights institutions, none have held even a single police officer accountable.
He criticised India’s failure to ratify the UN Convention Against Torture, calling the lack of accountability in custodial deaths a national shame, and warned that torture is systematically used to silence dissenters like Khurram Parvez, Bhima Koregaon accused, and Adivasi activist Soni Sori.
The Global Torture Index classifies countries into five risk categories, Low, Moderate, Considerable, High, and Very High,based on their exposure to torture and ill-treatment.
Russia, China, and parts of the Middle East and Central Asia fall under the “Very High Risk” category, while India, along with several countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, is marked as High Risk. In contrast, Europe, North America, and Oceania are largely considered Low Risk regions due to stronger legal frameworks, institutional safeguards, and accountability mechanisms.
