 bill no  57 of  2018 the prevention of torture bill, 2018 by shri om prakash yadav,  mp a billto provide punishment for torture inflicted by public servants or any person inflicting torture with the consent or acquiescence of any public servant, and for matters connected herewith or incidental theretowhereas india is a signatory to the united nations convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;and whereas it is considered necessary to ratify the said convention and to provide for more effective implementationbe it enacted by the parliament in the sixty-ninth year of the republic of india as follow:—1 (1) this act may be called the prevention of torture act, 2018(2) it extends to the whole of indiashort title, extent and commencementdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—45 of 1860(a) words and expressions used but not defined in this act shall have the samemeanings respectively as assigned to them in the indian penal code, 1860; and5(b) any reference in this act to any enactment or any provision thereof shall inany area in which such enactment or provision is not in force be construed as a reference to the corresponding law or the relevant provision of the corresponding law if any, in force in that areatorture103 whoever, being a public servant or being abetted by a public servant or with theconsent or acquiescence of a public servant, intentionally does any act for the purposes to punish or to obtain information from any person, whether in police custody or otherwise, which causes,—(i) grievous hurt to any person; or (ii) danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of any person, issaid to inflict torture:15provided that nothing contained in this section shall apply to any pain, hurt ordanger as aforementioned caused by any act, which is inflicted in accordance with any procedure established by law45 of 1860explanation—for the purposes of this section, 'public servant' shall, withoutprejudice to section 21 of the indian penal code, 1860, also include any person acting in his official capacity under the central government or the state government20punishment for torture4 where the public servant referred to in section 3 or any person abetted by or withthe consent or acquiescence of such public servant, tortures any person—25(a) for the purpose of extorting from him or any other person interested in him,any confession or any information which may lead to the detection of an offence or misconduct;(b) for the purpose of punishing him for any act; or (c) on the ground of his religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, casteor community or any other ground whatsoever,shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three yearsbut which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine30 statement of objects and reasonsindia signed the convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment (as adopted by the united nations general assembly on 9th december, 1975) on 14th october, 1997 to ratify the convention, it is necessary to enact any enabling legislation to reflect the definition and punishment for "torture", and bring domestic laws in conformity with the convention2 the proposed legislation, inter alia, defines the expression "torture", and provides punishment for those involved in the incidents of torture3 the legislation fulfils india's commitment, as confirmed to the united nations, to reaffirm that "torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are prohibited and constitute serious violations of human rights"4 according to the national crime records bureau, as many as 308 people died in police custody between 2011 and 2013 but less than forty per cent of these deaths led to a case being registered by providing punishment for the violation of these human rights, the legislation strengthens the protection of persons deprived of their liberty against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment5 out of 170 signatories to the united nations convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, india remains one of the only eight countries yet to ratify the convention ratifying the convention reaffirms the government of india's commitment to the protection of basic universal human rights6 the one hundred and fifty second report of the law commission on 'custodial crimes' (1994) had also recommended changes to the law to prevent custodial crimes, including torture7 the supreme court, in 2017, observed that india's efforts to extradite suspects from abroad are impeded due to the fact that india does not have an anti-torture law the legislation, once enacted, will expedite india's extradition attempts and the due process of law8 the bill seeks to achieve the above objectsnew delhi;om  prakash yadavfebruary 9, 2018 lok  sabha————— a billto provide punishment for torture inflicted by public servants or any person inflictingtorture with the consent or acquiescence of any public servant, and for mattersconnected herewith or incidental thereto—————(shri om prakash yadav, mp)mgipmrnd—4166ls(s3)—21-02-2018