Data shows that Tamil Nadu has a long history of police brutality
“Even a murderer would not have caused this much injury to a person”, observed the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday during the hearing of a batch of Public Interest Litigation petitions over the custodial death of Ajith Kumar, a security guard who died in police custody in Sivaganga district last Saturday.
Kumar’s death is not an isolated incident but part of a broader picture in Tamil Nadu and even in the rest of the country. The pattern is clear: a significant number of custodial deaths take place, of which a considerable number of them are reported, a few of the policemen are arrested, and none of them are convicted.
Kumar’s death is definitely not the first instance to spark public outrage in Tamil Nadu. The Ambasamudram custodial torture in 2023 and the Sathankulam custodial torture case that led to the death of a father-son duo in 2020 are still fresh in memory.
Data show that Tamil Nadu has a long history of police brutality. According to data from Parliament, 490 deaths were reported while suspects were in judicial or police custody between 2016-17 and 2021-22 (up to March 31, 2022). The map shows the deaths reported while suspects were in judicial or police custody between 2016-17 to 2021-22 (upto 31.03.2022)
In the past six years, Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of fatalities (2,630) in judicial/police custody among all the States, while Tamil Nadu reported the highest number among the southern States. In total, 11,656 deaths were recorded in India in the period considered. It is important to note, though, that not all custody deaths are due to police excess.
While the five constables involved in Kumar’s death were arrested, data show that no police officer has been convicted for custodial deaths between 2017 and 2022. Not just in Tamil Nadu, but across India, no police officer has been held accountable for such deaths in this period.
In India, 345 magisterial/judicial enquiries were ordered into the deaths of persons in police custody/lockup between 2017 and 2022. The chart shows the magisterial/judicial enquiries ordered into the deaths in police custody/lock up, policemen chargesheeted/arrested/convicted (2017-2022)|
And in these five years, 123 policemen were even arrested while such deaths were investigated. Moreover, over 79 were also chargesheeted. However, not a single policeman was convicted.
Data also show that convictions of State police personnel have been rare, not just in the case of custodial deaths, but also in any human rights violations case.
The chart shows the cases registered against police personnel for select human rights violations filed between 2017-2022 in India
The chart shows that 74 cases of human rights violations related to illegal detention, deaths in custody, and torture/causing hurt/injury were filed against police in India between 2017 and 2022.
Forty-one police personnel were chargesheeted. However, only three were convicted.
Importantly, policemen arrested for human rights violations is disproportionately low compared to the actual cases. Those convicted form a negligible share of those few arrested.
Worryingly, those belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs) often bear the brunt of custodial torture in Tamil Nadu. A disproportionately higher share of detenues — persons held lawfully in custody under preventive detention laws, distinct from regular suspects charged with specific crimes — in Tamil Nadu belong to the SCs.
In 2022, 38.5% of the detenues in Tamil Nadu were SC, while the community’s share in the State’s population was 20%. The table shows the share of SC in detenues among States with a high number of detenues as on December 31, 2022
This problem is mostly unique to Tamil Nadu and as can be seen from the table, the State police also take in a much higher number of people in detention. As on December 31, 2022, Tamil Nadu had 2,129 detenues — almost half of India’s number.
The data for the charts were sourced from the National Crime Records Bureau, the Parliament Questions and Answers, and the 2011 Census
Published – July 03, 2025 10:20 am IST