Context

• In the shadowy corners of Tamil Nadu’s police stations, a quiet horror unfolds, custodial deaths that puncture the very soul of justice.
• The recent death of Ajith Kumar, a 27-year-old temple guard in Sivaganga, is not an isolated tragedy but a recurring symptom of systemic dysfunction.
• His haunting last words, ‘I didn’t steal,’ now echo in a society teetering on the edge of moral collapse.
• Now, it is important to examine the normalisation of custodial violence, the systemic flaws enabling it, and the urgent reforms required to humanise law enforcement and restore the moral contract between the state and its citizens.

The Pattern and Normalisation of Force

• The Pattern of Violence: Beyond Isolated Incidents
  • Ajith Kumar’s death is part of a distressing continuum of custodial deaths in Tamil Nadu between 2021 and 2025.
  • Vignesh, a 25-year-old in Chennai, died under suspicious circumstances in 2022.
  • Raja, a Dalit cook from Villupuram, succumbed in custody in 2024 after being accused of a petty theft.
  • A 30-year-old autorickshaw driver died in Tiruchi in 2023, and Ajith’s autopsy revealed 44 wounds, cigarette burns, and drug exposure.
  • These are not unfortunate exceptions, they are a grim pattern of state violence met with impunity.
  • They point to a system where brutality has become institutionalised and silence, complicit.
• Normalisation of Force: Structural Violence Masquerading as Law
  • The repeated occurrence of custodial deaths highlights a deeper issue: the normalisation of force within the policing system.
  • Enforcement has been prioritised over reform.
  • The Tamil Nadu government invests heavily in police infrastructure, but very little in officer welfare, training, or psychological care. Police officers, dealing daily with trauma and stress, are unequipped emotionally to process their realities.
  • This neglect leads to burnout, which often manifests as brutality.
  • When officers become both victims and perpetrators of a broken system, the line between justice and violence disappears.

Urgent Reforms Required to Humanise Law Enforcement

• Systemic Reforms: Rebalancing the Policing Budget
  • A structural overhaul of the policing budget is overdue. Redirecting even a small percentage, just 5%, towards establishing mental health units, routine counselling, and trauma-informed training could radically transform outcomes for both detainees and officers.
  • Current spending favours equipment and surveillance, but neglects the human beings enforcing the law.
  • Officers are tasked with managing everything from domestic abuse to gang crime, often without the emotional tools to cope.
  • Without intervention, the baton becomes a conduit of unaddressed trauma.
• Training and Accountability: From Cosmetic to Core Reform
  • The police training curriculum in India remains outdated and inadequate. Designed in a pre-liberalisation context, it fails to address the socio-political complexity of modern India.
  • What is required is a complete revamp that prioritises ethics, human rights, community policing, and trauma-sensitive methods.
  • Moreover, accountability mechanisms remain weak. Suspending a few constables after a death is not justice, it is damage control.
  • India needs a dedicated anti-custodial violence law, one that mandates time-bound investigations, video-recorded interrogations, and oversight by civil society.
• Reimagining Policing: A Vision of Empathy and Service
  • At the heart of reform lies the need to reimagine the role of the police.
  • The uniform must cease to be a symbol of unyielding authority and instead represent restraint, compassion, and public service.
  • The deaths of Ajith, Vignesh, and Raja are not merely individual tragedies; they are manifestations of a state that has forsaken its responsibility to protect the vulnerable.
  • To uphold the dignity of every citizen, India must shift from reactive punishment to proactive reform.

The Role of Technology: Surveillance as Safeguard

• Technology can be a powerful ally in the fight against custodial violence, but only if implemented with integrity.
• CCTV cameras in custody areas should be tamper-proof and subject to real-time audits. Too often, footage is missing or inaccessible when deaths occur.
• Surveillance must not become a silent spectator to abuse; it must serve as a sentinel of justice, holding both detainees and officers to account.

Conclusion

• The call for justice cannot be answered posthumously. It must be woven into the policies, training, and ethos of the institutions meant to safeguard democracy.
• Custodial deaths are not just the failure of law enforcement; they represent the collapse of the state’s moral duty.
• As Ajith Kumar’s final cry, I didn’t steal, fades into the nation’s conscience, it must become a rallying call for transformation and the time for reform is not tomorrow. It is now.