NEW DELHI: Human Rights ambassador William Nicholas Gomes has written to the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission in Delhi asking him to act against Arbaaz Khan for showing scenes of torture and ill-treatment in ‘Dabangg2’.

Gomes, who is Bangladeshi journalist currently a visiting fellow at Centre for Applied Human Rights in University of York, UK, has said that torture is practiced in India as a routine and accepted as a means for investigation. Torture is not criminalised in law as a separate or special offence, and even an act of torture, duly proved, does not require the perpetrator to pay compensation to the victim. More than that “Right against torture” is not a fundamental right and also there is no specific law concerning witness protection in India.

He says: "I believe this will encourage people to lose faith in the rule of law and criminal justice system and raise wider public support in favour of Torture and ill treatment in the custody."

He says that the UN Human Rights Committee as early as 1997 had expressed its concern about the widespread use of torture by the law enforcement agencies in India. Similar concerns were expressed by the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2007 and the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights in 2008.

He has, therefore, asked the Chairman to direct Arbaaz Khan to delete these scenes from the film, which was released last Friday.