Grave human rights violations have risen dramatically since mid-1992 and have reached alarming proportions: two appendices to this report list details of 706 people who are reported to have been killed in the custody of the security forces in the state since January 1990, nearly all after torture. Most of the people who are tortured and killed in custody are young men picked up by the army or paramilitary forces during "crackdown" operations in villages or other areas to identify suspected militants. The relatives of those arrested are often not told why they are taken away or where they are being taken. People have been tortured to death either in crude attempts to extract information, to intimidate the local population, or as an act of reprisal for the killing by armed militants of security forces personnel.This report lists 706 cases recorded in four years. These findings underline Amnesty International's experience elsewhere: in situations of armed insurgency, such as in Jammu and Kashmir, the protection of human rights is most acutely and gravely at risk.

Topics: torture, deaths in custody, legal framework and the collapse of the rule of law, human rights abuses by armed opposition groups, amnesty international’s recommendations

Terms: custodial torture, custodial killings, arbitrary detention, "crackdowns," cordon and search operations, collective punishment, denial of access to justice, failure to investigate violations, denial of due process, mutilation, rape, intimidation, reprisals, attempted cover-ups, impunity, methods of torture, sexual abuse, encounter killings, denial of access to healthcare, refusal to investigate or prosecute, Border Security Force (BSF), Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Counter-Intelligence, Kashmir (CIK), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Public Safety Act (PSA), Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA)