59% Indians back torture of terrorists to save life

NEW DELHI: About 59 per cent of Indians support the use of torture and other third-degree means on terrorists if it could help save innocent lives, says the latest survey on 19 nations.

The study by the worldpublicopinion.org says that Indian support for making exceptions for the use of torture against terrorists has increased from 32% in 2006 to a majority of 59%. At the same time, the number of those that reject torture with no exceptions also rose from 23% in 2006 to 28%. It should be noted that in 2006 28% of Indians gave an answer of "neither" or "depends" on this question. The survey was made public at UN headquarters in New York on the eve of the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

Interestingly, this year also marks the 60th anniversary of the UN General Assembly���s adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, "No one shall be subjected to torture."

A total of 19,063 respondents were polled in 19 countries and most people in 14 countries called for unequivocal rules against torture, even in the case of extracting information from terrorists that could save innocent lives.

However, large majorities in all 19 nations favour a general prohibition against torture. In all nations polled, the number saying that the government should generally be able to use torture is less than one in five. On average across all nations polled, 57 per cent opt for unequivocal rules against torture. Thirty-five per cent favour an exception when innocent lives are at risk. Just 9 per cent favour the government being able to use torture in general.

Apart from India, the survey also specifically cited other countries that support the exception of torture in order to save innocent lives: Nigeria (54 per cent); Turkey (51 per cent) and Thailand (a plurality of 44 per cent). Support for an unequivocal ban on torture was highest in Spain, Britain and France, at 82 per cent in each country. They were followed by Mexico (73 per cent); China (66 per cent); the Palestinian territories (66 per cent); Poland (62 per cent); Indonesia (61 per cent); and Ukraine (59 per cent).