E/CN.4/2000/9/Add.5 page 8 detention, the Government reported that they had been visited by the trial Deputy Procurator General and the Deputy Secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia and questioned about physical abuse. All the defendants but one had denied having suffered any physical abuse. After their initial allegations of ill-treatment, the court had commenced an investigation which found that there existed no indications of torture. India 33. By letter dated 22 December 1999, the Government responded to a case which was transmitted by the Special Rapporteur on 11 November 1998 (see E/CN.4/1999/61, para. 306). 34. Concerning the death of Dilip Kumar Chakravarty, 10 police officials were arrested, charged, suspended from office and held in judicial custody. Compensation of Rs. 2,00,000 has been paid to his widow. Upon order of the National Human Rights Commission, the amount is eventually to be recovered from the police officers found responsible. Charges against an Assistant Commissioner of the police were discontinued due to the absence of corroboration by a prosecution witness. Further petitions by his widow to the Sessions Court and a subsequent appeal to the Delhi High Court were dismissed on 3 March 1998 and 16 April 1998 respectively. A Special Leave petition against the order of the Delhi High Court is currently pending before the Supreme Court of India. Indonesia 35. By letters dated 23 December 1999 and 11 January 2000, the Government reported that, in an effort to promote national reconciliation based on democracy and respect for human rights, it had amnestied and dropped criminal charges against 196 persons, inter alia from the provinces of Papua, also known as Irian Jaya, Aceh and East Timor. All political prisoners are said to have thus been released. The Government enclosed the names of persons released. Israel 36. By letter dated 20 December 1999, the Government responded to an urgent appeal sent by the Special Rapporteur on 7 December 1999 regarding draft legislation recently submitted to the Knesset on the interrogation methods of Israel s Security Agency (see E/CN.4/2000/9, para. 656). 37. According to the Government, the draft legislation on Criminal Procedure (Powers and Special Interrogation Methods for Security Offences) (1999), which was introduced as a private member’s bill, was neither sponsored nor supported by the Government. Furthermore, the Government had initiated a draft bill in October 1999 which foresaw the amendment of the Penal Code by introducing a new article (article 277A) rendering the infliction of torture as defined in the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment a criminal offence punishable by a 10-year term of imprisonment or, where the torture resulted in an aggravated injury, a term of 20 years. According to the proposal, a public official who does not reasonably act to prevent the infliction of torture of which he possesses knowledge, is liable for a 3-year term of imprisonment.