CUSTODY, COERCION, AND COMPLICITY: A CONCEPTUAL AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF CUSTODIAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

AUTHOR – RACHIT MATHUR, STUDENT AT UNITEDWORLD SCHOOL OF LAW, KARNAVATI UNIVERSITY

BEST CITATION – RACHIT MATHUR, CUSTODY, COERCION, AND COMPLICITY: A CONCEPTUAL AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF CUSTODIAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (8) OF 2026, PG. 246-252, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

INTRODUCTION

In India, custodial violence cannot be addressed without regard to the conditions that create it. Prior to exploring the legal protections and judicial responses to custodial deaths, it is important to lay down a preliminary framework of understanding – a framework that defines the notion of custody, the typology of custodial violence, and the underlying causes that allow custodial violence to flourish despite constitutional prohibitions. This Research Paper seeks to provide that foundation. The Research Paper starts with a distinction between the two main types of custody in the Indian criminal justice system: police custody and judicial custody. Although both involve state power over a person’s liberty, they vary in terms of the power exercised, the conditions under which they operate and the potential for abuse. This difference is not just semantic – it impacts the legal remedies and accountability frameworks that apply. Drawing on this distinction, the Research Paper then moves on to mapping the typology of custodial violence, which includes physical torture, psychological torture, fake encounters and custodial rape. These are not only associated with different legal consequences, but also different forms of power abuse by State authorities. The Research Paper then moves on to the institutional and structural causes of custodial violence – the pressure on the police to extract confessions, political interference in police work, lack of professional training, and systemic social biases – and relates these factors to the theories of state accountability and institutional abuse of power. In all, these discussions demonstrate that custodial violence is not an anomaly, but a failure of the Indian system of policing.