Cauvery Basin2

Tamil Research Institution (TRI)
urgently require their intervention to get them released and their cases contested.
The Tamilnadu SHRC may also take necessary steps for the effective protection to
the three witnesses in the state who are presently under the protective custody of an
NGO, People’s Watch in Madurai and recommend the State Government to look
after their costs related to their shelter, food and other daily needs throughout their
protective custody in addition to their continuous police protection.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
We recommend that the National Legal Services Authority and all State Legal
Services Authorities in the country recall their mandate under Sec 12 of the Legal
Services Authorities Act, 1987 which mandates them to provide free legal services to
all persons in ‘custody’. Hence in all such cases of police action where the poor are
taken into custody, it is the duty of the Legal Services Authority to suo-moto step in
and provide all assistance to the families of the deceased and also initiate where
necessary the filing of PILs on their behalf to provide urgent and speedy justice at
state cost to the poor families.
We strongly recommend the Government of India to pass a new India law on
preventing torture taking into full consideration the suggestions of the Select
Committee of the Rajya Sabha in the year 2010 and urgently ratify the United
Nations Convention on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment as well as its Optional Protocol that it had undertaken to ratify in the
UPR I [2008] and UPR II [2012] the ratification of the International Convention for the
Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. We further support the
recommendations of the Law Commission of India to make consequential
amendments to the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (insertion of section 114 b ) to provide
that in case of custodial death the onus of proving of innocence is fixed on the police
and the repeal section 197 of the Cr.P.C. to uphold the supremacy of the judiciary.
We also strongly reiterate the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on
extra judicial killings after his visit to India in the year 2012 to the Government of
India to
• Establish a credible Commission of Inquiry into extrajudicial executions in
India, or at least the areas most affected by extrajudicial executions, which
inspires the confidence of the people. The Commission should also serve a
transitional justice role. It should (a) investigate allegations concerning past
and recent violations of the right to life; (b ) propose relevant measures to
tackle them; and (c) work out a plan of action for the future to eradicate
practices of extrajudicial executions. The Commission should submit
recommendations on (a) legal reform; (b) the reform of State structures,
including security bodies; and (c) the fight against impunity.
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