New Delhi, February 06: The Supreme Court has laid down a set of guidelines to check the growing incidents of custodial torture in the country and ensured that stern and speedy action is taken against the perpetrators.

Three-judge Bench of Chief Justice YK Sabharwal, Justice BN Srikrishna, Justice RV Raveendran said "an independent investigation agency (preferably respective Human Rights Commissions or CBI) may be entrusted with adequate power to investigate complaints of custodial violence against police personnel and take stern and speedy action followed by prosecution, where ever necessary".

The Bench said police training should be re-oriented, to bring in a change in the mindset and attitude of the police personnel with regard to investigations, so that they recognise and respect human rights and adopt scientific investigation methods.

The order came on a petition filed by one Sube Singh who had sought compensation for custodial torture of his relatives in different police stations at different points of time in Haryana.

The court, however, dismissed his petition saying "there is no clear or incontrovertible evidence about custodial torture nor medical report of any enquiry or disability".

The Apex Court said the CBI probe already ordered in the matter shall continue to ensure that the police officers named were prosecuted.

"This order will not come in the way of any civil court awarding compensation in an action in tort or the criminal court awarding compensation under Section 357 CPC in the pending prosecution against any of the officers, if the charges are established," the court clarified.

"The endeavour should be to achieve a balanced level of functioning, where police respect human rights, adhere to law and take confidence building measures, and at the same time, firmly deal with organised crime, terrorism, white-collared crime, deteriorating law and order situation", it observed.

The court said the functioning of lower level police officers should be continuously monitored and supervised by their superiors to prevent custodial violence and adherence to lawful standard methods of investigation.

It once against emphasised the need to ensure compliance of the 11 requirements (including informing the family of the arrested person and legal assistance) enumerated by D K Basu case in all cases of arrest and detention.

Simple and fool-proof procedures should be introduced for prompt registration of FIRs relating to all crimes, it said.

It also recommended computerisation, video-conferencing and modern methods of records maintenance be introduced to avoid manipulations, insertions, substitutions and ante-dating in regard to FIRs, Mahazars, inquest proceedings, post-mortem reports and statements of witnesses, etc and to bring in transparency in action.

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