Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad   

Of `sustained' interrogation

Whether thinking of revamping interrogation modes without taking into consideration the other lacunae in the system would be of any use is a moot point, writes Marri Ramu

Interrogation of the crime suspects remains unchanged even after decades. There is little discussion on the methods employed by the detectives for extracting information from the suspects except when allegations of using third degree methods are made.

A neglected angle of interrogation is the fact that investigators are not able to elicit complete details of the offences committed by the accused despite questioning them for hours and days together.

A case in point is the recent arrest of Shaik Abdul Sajid with whose confession the Goshamahal division police unravelled the racecourse bookie Munawar Shah's murder committed three years ago.

Sajid confessed to the police that he, his brother Khalid and two others stabbed Shah to death before snatching Rs. 4 lakh from him at Mahendra Hills. The interesting part of the story is that the city Detective Department had arrested Khalid in connection with a robbery a few months ago, but could not extract details of the Shah's murder.

Sakhi case

Even more classic is the killing and skinning of tigress Sakhi reported five years ago. The alleged mastermind behind the killing, Mohammed Sultan, was arrested thrice after the incident but never revealed to his interrogators about the Sakhi's killing. It was only when the Hyderabad police stumbled upon him in connection with a sandalwood theft case a few months ago that he confessed to his involvement in the Sakhi case. There are a good number of such cases. After unravelling the Sakhi's case, the Police Commissioner proudly claimed that "sustained interrogation" would yield good results always.

And this raises the question of whether the sleuths are adopting a system of sustained interrogation in all the cases? If not why and what can be done to set things right? There are different schools of thought about collecting information from the suspects. Differing with routine questioning, some argue that no suspect would admit to his involvement in an offence unless he is subjected to third degree methods.

Incidentally, the police failed to gather details from the accused in the above two cases notwithstanding the "sustained" interrogation which in effect means third degree was used. Then, what should be done to collect information from suspects let alone achieving `good results always'? Senior police officers feel that a lot was discussed about introducing scientific methods in interrogation but little had materialised.

A few others opine that the existing questioning methods should be analysed in the backdrop of the huge number of cases thrust upon each investigator, inadequate men and officers and poor infrastructure like lack of special interrogation rooms. Whether thinking of revamping interrogation modes without taking into consideration the other lacunae in the system would be of any use is another moot point.

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Of `sustained' interrogation

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