Torture in Postcolonial India: A Liberal Paradox?

Jinee Lokaneeta

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Torture in Postcolonial India: A Liberal Paradox?

In: State Power and the Legal Regulation of Evil

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Jinee Lokaneeta

Jinee Lokaneeta
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 33–44

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848880290_005

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As any liberal democracy, the Indian state either claims that torture does not occur in India or that it is never authorized as a policy. Yet, in India, the number of cases of custodial torture and deaths are extremely high. This is despite the fact that postcolonial India has very clearly articulated constitutional and statutory provisions against torture that are constantly being developed and monitored by a strong and independent judiciary. This raises the question: how does torture continue to persist in India? The debates on torture in India have primarily focused on the institution of the Indian police to explain the cause and justification of torture. I argue that while the literature rightly points to the actors of torture: the police, it simultaneously deflects attention from the ways in which the jurisprudence itself struggles with the issue of torture. In the article I argue that the strong formal laws and innovative responses of the courts to the question of custodial deaths and torture, while being effective in addressing torture in many ways, ultimately distracts attention from the ambivalence in the court’s own response to the issue of torture and the use of excess violence in interrogations.

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State Power and the Legal Regulation of Evil

E-Book ISBN:: 9781848880290

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 23 Apr 2010

Subjects
- Philosophy
  - Ethics & Moral Philosophy
  - Social & Political Philosophy

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Torture in Postcolonial India: A Liberal Paradox?

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State Power and the Legal Regulation of Evil

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