In India’s Dark Record on Custodial Deaths, Jharkhand HC Offers Rare Hope
Edgar Kaiser May 18, 2026

thequint.com/opinion/jharkhand-high-court-custodial-death-verdict-offers-rare-hope

The Jharkhand High Court orders fresh judicial probes into 262 of 427 custodial deaths, flags grave legal violations, and links them to wider national failures on torture, accountability and compensation. Edgar Kaiser asks: Can this verdict become a model to fix India’s custodial justice crisis?

A Jharkhand High Court has recently flagged 427 custodial deaths in the state since 2018, ordering a judicial inquiry into the matter. The judgment by shines a ray of hope for hundreds of victims' families who long awaited the justice system to keep up to its Constitutional promise. A promise that has rarely been delivered in custodial violence cases across the country.

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