"In ancient republics, torture was tied
to citizenship. Torture was inflicted exclusively on non-
citizens like slaves, barbarians and foreigners. As an
instrument of demarcation, torture delineates the boundary between
slaves and free, between the touchable bodies of free citizens
and untouchable bodies of the slaves. It is unimaginable that
modern democracies like India are as weak as Athenian democracy and
the prevalence of practice of torture resemble the Athenian
model. Today torture victim include not only terrorists and criminalsbut
street children, migrants, socially marginalized group s and
religiously discriminated communities. All of them now fall into
the class of quasi citizens. It is time to break conspiracy of
silence."
