Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan has expressed serious concern over the reported rise in extra-judicial killings and instances of police violence, questioning whether investigative agencies are increasingly resorting to impermissible shortcuts in criminal investigations.
Speaking at a programme on criminal justice and constitutional jurisprudence, Justice Bhuyan reflected on the persistence of custodial violence and extra-judicial deaths, observing that such incidents could no longer be regarded merely as remnants of an earlier era.
The judge questioned the circumstances in which persons taken into police custody subsequently die during purported encounters or other police operations. He particularly raised questions over the practice of taking accused persons to alleged crime scenes during the early hours of the morning for the purpose of investigation or reconstruction.
Justice Bhuyan has previously voiced concern over custodial deaths and the manner in which police personnel exercise coercive authority. He has stressed that policing must remain anchored in constitutional values, accountability and respect for human dignity.
The judge has also expressed disquiet over allegations of police personnel personally using force against protesters, noting that the institutional detachment expected of law-enforcement officers must not be compromised.
The observations bring into focus the fundamental distinction between investigation and punishment. The determination of criminal culpability is entrusted to the judicial process, and the investigative machinery cannot substitute coercive or extra-legal action for proof to be established in accordance with law.
Justice Bhuyan’s remarks thus reiterate a foundational constitutional principle: the State’s legitimate interest in combating crime cannot operate as a licence to dilute safeguards afforded to individuals in custody. The credibility of the criminal justice system ultimately rests upon the ability of its institutions to enforce the law while remaining subject to the law themselves.
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