Prisoner Voices from Death Row by Reena Mary George

Author:Reena Mary George [George, Reena Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Criminology, Law, Criminal Law, General, Penology, Death & Dying
ISBN: 9781472461728
Google: 5pLmCgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2015-11-28T06:01:32+00:00

Process 3: Appearing before the Magistrate and other Actors for the First Time

The next stage after the arrest and the police lock-up is ‘being taken before the magistrate for the first time’ which according to the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 should be within 24 hours of the arrest. Before being taken to the magistrate, the prisoners are tutored to say that they were not harmed while they were in custody. The magistrates while questioning the prisoner if s/he was tortured in custody gives a mere lip-service to the D.K. Basu guideline.30 These guidelines, a judgment by Supreme Court issued certain requirements to be followed as preventive measures against custodial violence in all cases of arrest or detention ‘till legal provisions are made in that behalf’. Magistrates did not verify about being hit in custody, prisoners were not sent to judicial custody (prison) even when they complained of tortured in custody. These are some of the instances where magistrates have to take action according to the D.K. Basu guidelines. The prisoners gave a different reality when appearing before the court.

A large number of prisoners were taken to the magistrate’s house at night. According to the prisoners, this made easy for the police to get the prisoner back into custody and also to hide marks on the body as they were less visible at night. This was also the process where they were tutored to say things. No matter when the prisoner was arrested, s/he was tutored to say that s/he was arrested a day before. Also the police officer ‘tutored’ prisoners telling them ‘Magistrate ke saamne kuch nahi bolneka’ (do not say anything in front of the magistrate). They were then threatened that if they spoke before the magistrate, the police officials would repeat the ‘regular work’ when they were returned to custody. In one instance, a prisoner did not follow this ‘tutoring’ instead he removed his clothes and showed his injuries to the magistrate. However, the magistrate did not make a note of it and sent him back to police custody for another 15 days. He was beaten even more for ‘telling’ the magistrate when he was ‘tutored’ not to.

In addition to that, the use of language also played a very important role in the threatening-tutoring phenomenon. The police officers used the word, ‘work’ instead of torture. For example, before taking to the magistrate, police officers told the prisoner, ‘Do not tell anything to the magistrate or we will further “work” on you. If the magistrate asks you “How did this happen?” (His legs were blue with all the beatings in custody), you have to say that “the public beat you outside”‘. In the court this prisoner said exactly as he was asked to because he was scared that he would be beaten again. Prisoners were coerced to speak in front of the magistrate to fit the ‘police version’ of the arrest. One of the prisoners was asked to tell that he was arrested in a particular state and not the other state where he was originally arrested.

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