E/CN.4/1994/31 page 57 271. On 3 December 1993 the Government replied that on 11 April 1993 Rajinder Prasad and two others has reportedly been crossing the railway track when he was accidentally run over by a train. The investigation conducted by the Railway Police had indicated that the death was accidental. Subsequent to the death a complaint had been filed by one of the factory workers to the effect that they had been beaten by the factory owner. A case had been registered on this basis and the owner and others arrested. The case was still under investigation. 272. The Special Rapporteur also received information according to which there has been a pattern of human rights violations committed by members of the security forces in the course of their operations in Jammu and Kashmir. These include reports of brutal torture and rape by members of the security forces, often in retaliation for attacks by Kashmiri militant groups on them. Torture is reportedly used as a means of extracting information from detainees, coercing confessions or punishing persons believed sympathetic to the guerrilla forces. Every government force operating in Kashmir, including the Indian Army and India’s federal paramilitary forces, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Border Security Force (BSF), has its own interrogation centres in Kashmir. Detainees are reportedly first interrogated by the detaining security force for periods of time which may range from several hours to several weeks. During this time the detainee is not produced before a court or given access to anyone outside the interrogation centre. 273. It was also reported that security personnel routinely ignore procedural safeguards when taking persons into custody. Although Indian law requires that everyone taken into custody must be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours, in fact detainees are rarely produced at all. Prohibitions and safeguards against torture in the Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, which prohibit the use of coerced confessions and prescribe inquiries into deaths in custody and prison terms for officers guilty of torture, are also routinely disregarded. Security personnel responsible for torture in Kashmir have reportedly never been held criminally liable for their actions. 274. It was further reported that the use of rape is common in Kashmir as a weapon against women suspected of being sympathetic to or related to alleged militants; or as a form of retaliation against civilians believed to be sympathetic to the militants. The authorities have rarely investigated charges of rape by security forces and those which were investigated did not result in criminal prosecutions. Incidents of this kind have been reported, for example, in Chak Saidapora, near Shopian, district Pulwama; Haran, near Srinagar; and Gurihakhar, Handwara district. The individual cases referred to in the following paragraphs were transmitted to the Government. 275. Muzaffar Ahmed Mirza was arrested on 4 October 1991 in Tral, a village about four kilometres south of Srinagar. He was allegedly beaten and given electric shocks to the genitals. After that, an iron rod was inserted into his rectum and pushed through to his chest. He was found by the side of a road and taken to the Medical College hospital the next day in severe pain. The next day he underwent chest surgery which revealed a large laceration of the diaphragm and left lung. Within two or three weeks, he died of subsequent internal infection.