Court cannot compel govt to ratify torture convention: SC
The court had earlier issued a notice and had sought the Centre's response.
New Delhi: Within a day of Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad cautioning the courts not to encroach into policy domain, the Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a PIL filed by Ashwini Kumar, a former law minister, for a direction to ratify UN Convention Against Torture.
A bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud told Mr Kumar “it respects the government’s political compulsions and will not compel the Centre to ratify the UN Convent-ion against Torture or command it to frame a standalone anti-torture legislation”. The court had earlier issued a notice and had sought the Centre’s response.
The CJI asked Mr Kumar, “How can we compel the government to make a law? Can we ask the government to ratify a treaty by way of a mandamus? The government has to take a political decision on whether it should ratify the treaty or not.”
Mr Kumar said the government has given a commitment to the international community to address torture, especially custodial torture. The government has made a commitment to the international community.
Justice Chandrachud said, “It is conscious of its obligations. We would be crossing judicial limits by issuing a mandamus to the government. We have to respect the political compulsions of the government.”
Attorney-general K.K. Venugopal submitted that the government is considering an anti-torture law. The Law Commission of India has already recommended the Centre to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Torture and frame a standalone anti-torture law, directly making the State responsible for any injury inflicted by its agents on citizens.
The former law minister argued that the government was in breach of its constitutional obligations under Article 21 and also in breach of its international treaty obligations under Articles 51 and 253 of the Constitution and said that the NHRC was helpless since it cannot enforce its directions nor can it accurately record all the cases of torture in custody.