The Supreme Court on July 21 delivered a landmark order directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a thorough probe into the alleged custodial torture of police constable Khursheed Ahmad Chohan. The verdict reinforces the constitutional mandate against custodial brutality.

The incident took place at the Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) in Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir, where the constable was reportedly held in illegal detention and subjected to severe inhuman treatment.

In a decisive move to ensure accountability, the apex court also ordered the immediate arrest of the Jammu & Kashmir police personnel implicated in the abuse. Simultaneously, it directed the Union Territory administration to compensate the victim, Chohan, with Rs. 50,00,000/- (Rupees Fifty Lakhs)

Facts:

The case was heard by a two-judge bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta. The bench was dealing with a plea filed by Chohan himself a police constable who had approached the Supreme Court seeking redressal after the Jammu & Kashmir High Court declined to quash an FIR filed against him under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (attempt to commit suicide).

According to the appellant, he had been detained without legal sanction for six days, from February 20 to 26, 2023, during which he was brutally tortured. In his petition, he alleged that the torture was so severe that it involved “mutilation of his private parts”, a claim that left the Court deeply disturbed.

Delivering the judgment, Justice Sandeep Mehta, who authored the opinion, emphatically observed that allowing the criminal proceedings under Section 309 IPC to continue against Chohan who was in fact a victim of custodial atrocities would be a “travesty of justice.”

The bench accordingly set aside the High Court’s refusal and quashed the FIR lodged against the constable.

However, the Court did not stop at quashing the FIR. It took serious exception to the brutal custodial violence inflicted on Chohan.

Importantly, the Court tasked the CBI not only with identifying and prosecuting the individual police officers responsible but also with investigating the “systemic issues” at play within the Joint Interrogation Centre, Kupwara.

This included an inquiry into “whether structural or institutional failings enabled a climate of impunity” that allowed such abuse to occur unchecked.

The Supreme Court’s directive mentions a timeline of within one month, for the arrest of the implicated officers and the CBI probe was directed to be completed within three months from the date of registration of the FIR.

Case Details: Khursheed Ahmad Chohan v. Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir & Others

Appearance:

For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Anand Grover, Sr. Adv. Mr. Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, AOR Mr. Ibad Mushtaq, Adv. Ms. Akanksha Rai, Adv. Ms. Gurneet Kaur, Adv. Mr. Hasan Raza Khan, Adv.

For Respondent(s) : Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, Sr. A.A.G. Mr. Parth Awasthi, Adv. Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR