NEW DELHI, Jan 19: Amnesty International said on Sunday that “torture and custodial violence” still take place in prisons of the northern Indian state of Punjab even though militancy ended there a decade ago.

It said this was largely because the criminal justice system which evolved during the militancy period allowed room for torture.

“Unless this trend is reversed and the procedures and attitudes which facilitated abuses during that period are dismantled, custodial violence will continue to take place in the state,” Amnesty added.

It also said human rights violations had declined after the end of militancy in the early nineties, but thousands of families were still waiting to know the fate of relatives who “disappeared” during that period.

“Until justice and truth is delivered to these families, the wounds left by the militancy period will remain open,” the human rights watchdog added.

Separatist militants had been active in Punjab, where a bloody insurgency in the 1980s sought to create a Sikh nation called Khalistan.

Indian forces had largely quashed Sikh separatism by the early 1990s.

Amnesty said only a small number of police officers had been brought to book for torture and other human rights violations.

It said this has encouraged the police force to use torture rather than thorough investigations to solve crimes.—AFP