Human Rights Violations During Criminal Investigation: A Socio-Legal Analysis of Legal Safeguards, Investigative Practices, and Judicial Responses in India

Abstract

The criminal investigation process stands out as one of the biggest interfaces between the individual and the State. This is because the exercise of coercive power directly interferes with the enjoyment of fundamental human rights by the person being investigated. While criminal investigation is necessary for maintaining law and order and giving justice to the victim, the investigative process becomes a breeding ground for the violation of human rights including custodial torture, illegal detention, fabrication of evidence, coercion of confessions, discriminatory policing, and encounter killings. The violation of human rights through the criminal investigation process compromises the exercise of constitutional morality, damages the trust of the citizens on the criminal justice system, and threatens the rule of law.
This paper seeks to conduct a socio-legal study of human rights violations during criminal investigations in India by looking into constitutional provisions, statutory safeguards contained in the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA), judicial decisions, and international human rights standards. Unlike any doctrinal paper, this paper will combine the legal analysis with the evidence gathered from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Law Commission Reports, and human rights violations cases.
The study critically examines landmark judicial interventions such as D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal, Nilabati Behera v. State of Orissa, Joginder Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh, Prakash Singh v. Union of India, and Paramvir Singh Saini v. Baljit Singh, which collectively constitute India's constitutional jurisprudence on custodial rights and police accountability. It further analyses recent developments introduced through BNSS, 2023, including electronic documentation, videography of search and seizure, and revised arrest procedures, to determine whether these reforms meaningfully reduce opportunities for custodial abuse and investigative misconduct.
The paper also explores the structural causes of human rights violations, including inadequate police training, political interference, institutional culture, forensic deficiencies, excessive dependence on confessional evidence, and socio-economic inequalities affecting marginalized communities. Through detailed examination of contemporary incidents such as the Sathankulam custodial deaths, the Hathras investigation, the Vikas Dubey encounter, the Delhi Riots investigations, and the Bhima Koregaon prosecutions, the research humanizes statistical findings by highlighting the lived experiences of victims and their families.
The study concludes that despite a robust constitutional framework and progressive judicial pronouncements, implementation deficits continue to impede effective protection of human rights during criminal investigations. It recommends strengthening independent police accountability mechanisms, ensuring mandatory compliance with constitutional safeguards, expanding scientific investigation techniques, institutionalizing legal aid at the police station level, enhancing digital transparency under BNSS, and ratifying the United Nations Convention against Torture (UNCAT). Ultimately, the paper argues that an investigation conducted in violation of human dignity cannot produce genuine justice, and that constitutional morality must remain the guiding principle of every investigative process.
The criminal investigation process stands out as one of the biggest interfaces between the individual and the State. This is because the exercise of coercive power directly interferes with the enjoyment of fundamental human rights by the person being investigated. While criminal investigation is necessary for maintaining law and order and giving justice to the victim, the investigative process becomes a breeding ground for the violation of human rights including custodial torture, illegal detention, fabrication of evidence, coercion of confessions, discriminatory policing, and encounter killings. The violation of human rights through the criminal investigation process compromises the exercise of constitutional morality, damages the trust of the citizens on the criminal justice system, and threatens the rule of law.

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