Ratified treaty;¹ Instruments not subject to ratification²

Death of a young man caused by police officers/ Right to damages/ Reference to international law to strengthen a decision based on domestic law/ Reference to the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to found the Court’s jurisdiction to order financial compensation

A young man had been found dead on a railway line after being taken into custody by police officers. His body was covered with deep wounds and serious fractures. The Supreme Court of India held that the death had been caused by the police officers and that his family had a case for claiming damages. The legal problem lay in the fact that proceedings had been instituted before the Court³ in a manner which did not explicitly mention the possibility for the Court to order financial compensation when that procedure for instituting proceedings was followed. In order to found its jurisdiction the Court referred to national practice concerning damages and then referred to the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago, which contains a provision similar to that of Article 32 of the Indian Constitution and which provides the possibility for the Court to order a financial compensation. The Court then relied on international law to add force to its case, stating the following:

 “We may also refer to Article 9(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 which indicates that an enforceable right to compensation is not alien to the concept of enforcement of a guaranteed right.”

By referring to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Supreme Court of India added force to its conclusion that it had authority to award financial compensation to redress the violation of a fundamental right whenever proceedings were instituted under Article 32 of the Constitution. The young man’s family was able to benefit from this opportunity.

¹ International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966.

² Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago.

³ Article 32 of the Indian Constitution makes provision for the possibility of moving the Supreme Court for the enforcement of a right conferred by the Constitution.