Indian police system is rotting from within, courtesy of its trigger-happy, torture-loving police force. Custodial torture isn’t just a glitch in the system—it’s the system itself, a sadistic relic of colonial brutality that thrives unchecked in 2025. Reports scream the ugly truth: torture cases are skyrocketing across states, with Kerala emerging as a fresh hotspot of shame.
This isn’t hyperbole; it’s a national emergency demanding immediate decapitation of the corrupt heads enabling it. We must dismantle this machinery of pain, prosecute the perpetrators without mercy, and enshrine anti-torture laws that actually bite. Anything less is complicity in murder. Let’s face the numbers—no sugarcoating. The Global Torture Index 2025 brands India a “high-risk” hellhole for police brutality, citing widespread custodial deaths and the misuse of draconian laws like UAPA to crush dissent.
In 2022 alone, 1,995 prisoners perished in judicial custody, including 159 unnatural deaths that reek of foul play. Fast-forward to 2024: the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) logged a staggering 2,739 custodial deaths, 155 directly in police hands. That’s five deaths a day on average, folks—five lives snuffed out in the shadows of lockups meant for protection, not execution. And convictions? A big fat zero in states like Tamil Nadu, where courts note “alarming patterns” but police walk free.
This isn’t justice; it’s a license to kill. The surge isn’t abstract stats—it’s flesh and blood, broken bones and silenced screams. Take Tamil Nadu, lauded as a policing paragon, yet RTI data from 2024 exposes a torture underbelly with zero CCTV in many stations, enabling unchecked violence. Or Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, where NHRC data from 2018-2023 shows hundreds of custodial deaths, disproportionately hitting the poor and marginalized.
A joint study by Common Cause and Lokniti-CSDS paints a damning picture: police view torture as “normal,” with four out of five officers admitting it’s routine for confessions. Recent criminal reforms have bloated police powers while gutting oversight, turning stations into medieval dungeons. Now, zoom into Kerala, the “God’s Own Country” that’s become a devil’s playground for custodial horrors.
Just days ago, RTI-released CCTV footage from Kunnamkulam police station went viral, showing officers mercilessly beating Youth Congress leader Sujith Das in 2023—stripped, kicked, and humiliated for hours over a fabricated charge. Congress leader VD Satheesan called it “inhuman, not just unlawful,” demanding dismissals, but the LDF government dithers, shielding the brutes. Sujith, braving threats, released the video, warning the assailants they’d never walk free again.
But wait, there’s more rot: In Peechi station, Thrissur, another 2023 clip surfaced this week, capturing officers assaulting restaurant staff, extorting Rs 5 lakh to “settle” a minor dispute. The victim, KP Ouseph, complained, but the main accused got promoted instead of sacked. This isn’t policing; it’s organized thuggery. Remember Udayakumar? Detained in 2005 for a petty theft, he was tortured to death in Fort police station, Thiruvananthapuram—beaten with rods until his heart gave out.
In August 2025, Kerala High Court acquitted all five accused officers, including those sentenced to death by CBI, citing “insufficient evidence.” His mother, Prabhavathi Amma, waited 20 years for justice, only to see killers walk free. Or take the 2024 case in Palakkad, where a tribal youth died suspiciously in custody, with autopsy screaming torture—yet, crickets from authorities. These anecdotes aren’t outliers; they’re the norm in a system where 80% of police refuse to report torture, per the Status of Policing in India Report 2025.
The Left Democratic Front in Kerala, under CM Pinarayi Vijayan, preaches progress but presides over a police raj of goons and mafias. Nationwide, it’s the same: impunity breeds escalation. Supreme Court rulings against torture gather dust while officers get medals for “efficiency.” Enough. This barbarism must end. Ratify the UN Convention Against Torture without delays—India signed it in 1997 but drags feet on legislation.
Mandate body cams, independent probes, and zero-tolerance prosecutions. Strip pensions from torturers, jail them for life. Citizens, rise—protest like Congress is doing in Kerala, demand accountability. If we don’t, we’re all complicit in this bloodbath. Torture isn’t law enforcement; it’s state terrorism. Time to smash it, or watch our democracy die in a lockup cell.