indian-penal-code indian-constitutional-law
Is there any specific IPC section for torture/torture before crime
<p><strong>This question is specifically related to the Indian Constitution</strong></p>
<p>So, I have been wondering if a criminal tortures the victim before committing a crime like rape or murder. Would it include additional charges to be pressed on the accused or just he will be convicted for rape or murder related IPC sections?</p>

<p>Yes. Why? because Torture is triggering different crimes by harming the body or psyche of the victim. Torture is defined for example in the Rome statute of the ICC:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;Torture&quot; means the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, upon a person in the custody or under the control of the accused; except that torture shall not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to, lawful sanctions;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But now, let's look at Indian law. There is <a href="http://www.humanrights.asia/tortures/torture-in-india" rel="nofollow noreferrer">not a specific paragraph</a> that calls out torture, but the <a href="http://www.vakilno1.com/bareacts/indianpenalcode/indianpenalcode.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Indian Penal Code of 1860</a> contains <em>Section 330. Voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession, or to compel restoration of property</em> and <em>Section 348. Wrongful confinement to extort confession, or compel restoration of property</em>, which specifically looks at police. But fret not, there's more, if it is not the police that does the harming... because then we are in the territory of bodily injuries.</p>
<p>Sections 100, 101, 104 and 106 (all of them defense statutes) make clear, that you are allowed to defend yourself, and in fact codify a right of having an uninjured body - so there are laws that must make that an offence to do the things in the first place. They come just later. In a short skim, I found 2 very easy fits:</p>
<ul>
<li>Sections 319/320 make causing pain and dismembering - both typical of torture - a special crime.</li>
<li>Section 376(2)m lists harming the body of the victim as a factor to increase the punishment in committing another crime. And that is so far just skimming the penal code.</li>
</ul>
