Law Commons^™

This paper discusses the atrocities committed by police officials belonging to a Joint Special Task Force (JSTF) established by the state governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in India to capture Veerappan – a well-known forest brigand. The paper traces the widespread use of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances of persons from poor and underprivileged communities living on the borders of Satyamangalam forest in this context. It analyzes the atrocities through the lens of international legal standards as well as Indian criminal law. It critically evaluates the responses of Indian state and democratic institutions, including …

The article discusses sexual and gender-based crimes in mass violence in India. It draws upon five different contexts of mass violence - communal (religion-based) violence, caste-based violence, violence in the context of militarization, violence in the context of anti-people development, and dispossession / violence in anti-Naxal operations.

In the second part of the article, it discusses gaps in Indian legal jurisprudence which are major causative factors for the existing impunity, and pose challenges to justice.

As a logical corollary, the third part discusses relevant law reform initiatives that are in process, to address the challenges to justice. In critiquing such …