Annual digest of human rights judgements 2003
- New Delhi NIndian Social Institute 2004
- 196p.
The statements made by the government in Parliament and the judgments delivered by the Supreme Court and the high courts in 2003 indicated that there was no substantial improvement in the situation of human rights over the past years. The government told Parliament that the National Human Rights Commission had registered 1,340 cases of custodial deaths in 2002-03, that is more than three a day. This was an increase from the past year, when there were 1,305 deaths. The maximum deaths reported were from Uttar Pradesh (185), followed by Bihar (157), Maharashtra (143), Andhra Pradesh (122), Punjab (74)m Tamil Nadu (68), Karnataka and West Bengal (65 each) and Kerala (54). There were 8,596 such deaths in prisons between 1993 and 2003, according to the commission's record. There were 2,044 cases pending before it during this year.