Custodial Deaths and Technology

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

India has a grim record in police brutality and custodial violence.

• Between 2001 and 2018, 1,727 persons died in police custody, but only 26 policemen were convicted for such deaths.
• The recent spate of custodial deaths in Tamil Nadu has yet again highlighted the methods used by the police during interrogation.
• Custodial deaths are common despite enormous time and money being spent on training police personnel to embrace scientific methods of investigation.

Use of technology

• Given the problem of custodial deaths, technology has been proposed as a silver bullet by many.
• Several technological solutions are available to help prevent custodial deaths.

Technologies used

• This includes body cameras and automated external defibrillators. These technologies help avert police custodial deaths.
• For example, body cameras could hold officers liable.
• Deception detection tests (DDTs), which deploy technologies such as polygraph, narco-analysis and brain mapping, are valuable in learning information that is known only to a criminal regarding a crime.
• Among the DDTs, the Brain Fingerprinting System (BFS) has proved helpful for solving crimes, identifying perpetrators, and exonerating innocent suspects.
• There is increasing use of robots for surveillance and bomb detection.
• Many departments want robotic interrogators for interrogating suspects
• Robots equipped with AI and sensor technology can build a rapport with the suspects, utilise persuasive techniques like flattery, shame and coercion, and strategically
• ML can in real-time alert superiors when police are meting out inhumane treatment to suspects.

Concerns

• There is a lot of concern about AI or robot interrogations, both legally and ethically.
• There exists the risk of bias, the peril of automated interrogation tactics, the threat of ML algorithms targeting individuals and communities, and the hazard of its misuse for surveillance.
• Therefore, while the technology available to the police and law-enforcement agencies is constantly improving, it is a restricted tool that can’t eradicate custodial deaths.
• While it might provide comfort and transparency, it can never address the underlying issues that lead to these situations.

Way forward

• There is a need for multi-pronged strategy by the decision-makers encompassing legal enactments, technology, accountability, training and community relations.
• The Law Commission of India’s proposition in 2003 to change the Evidence Act to place the onus of proof on the police for not having tortured suspects should be considered.
• Stringent action must be taken against personnel who breach the commandments issued by the apex court in K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1997) – a landmark judgment given by the apex court in the case of an increasing number of custodial deaths in India.
• The draft bill on the Prevention of Torture, 2017 needs to be revived.
• Technology may make policing more convenient, but it can never be an alternative for compassionate policing established on trust between the police and the citizens.