The Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha has approved the amended Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010. The bill seeks to provide punishment for torture inflicted by public servants or any person inflicting torture with the consent or acquiescence of any public servant. Talking to reporters outside Parliament, the Select Committee Chairman, Ashwini Kumar said the proposed bill is conceived as an enabling legislation to ratify the U N Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Describing the bill as a significant piece of legislation, Mr Ashwini Kumar said, the bill underscores the irrevocable commitment to basic and fundamental human rights as enshrined in the Constitution. Among other things, it humanizes the administration of the criminal justice system in the country. The Select Committee recommended a stringent punishment for acts to torture including life imprisonment or death sentence for death caused by torture in custody. In the case fine, it also proposed the minimum amount of one lakh rupees payable by the torturer as compensation.