Supreme Court (SC) calls for stricter approach in granting bail to police in custodial death cases

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While referring to its Judgment of State of Jharkhand v Sandeep Kumar, SC made an exception and invoked Article 136 to set aside bail granted to Police officer by a High Court in a case of custodial death.
- Article 136 gives discretionary power to SC to grant special leave to appeal from any judgement or order made by any court or tribunal India.
  - It is not applied to orders passed by any court or tribunal constituted by any law relating to Armed Forces.
Custodial death is a manifestation of custodial violence which primarily refers to violence (including rape and torture) in police custody and judicial custody.

Safeguard against Custodial death
- Constitutional
  - Article 14 (Right to equality before law)
  - Article 21 (Right to life)
- Legal
  - Sec 330 & 331 of IPC provides punishment for injury inflicted for extorting confession during custody
  - Section 176 Cr.P.C, calls for magisterial enquiry in case of custodial death.
- Other
  - International Covenant On Civil And Political Rights (India is Signatory)
  - D.K Basu v. State of West Bengal, SC gave specific guidelines for safeguarding of detainees.
  - NHRC guidelines calls for reporting of custodial death or rape within 24 hrs of occurrence