Mumbai Police issue custody T-shirt uniform

Mumbai Police are issuing accused people in central lock-ups a standard uniform of maroon T-shirts and black shorts to reduce suicides in custody. (indianexpress.com) (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) Police officers told The Indian Express the logic is simple: detainees’ own clothes are often the most accessible tool for self-harm, so the new outfit removes long sleeves and full-length pants. The clothes are short-sleeved, paired with shorts, and reused after washing. (indianexpress.com) The policy is being used in Mumbai’s central lock-ups, where accused from different police stations are kept before they are remanded to judicial custody or released on bail. The Times of India reported the rollout on April 22, 2026; The Indian Express described it on April 26, 2026, after robbery suspects were seen wearing the uniform at Antop Hill police station. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (indianexpress.com) The backdrop is a run of custodial deaths in Maharashtra. The Indian Express reported more than 54 deaths in police custody or remand in the state between 2020 and 2023, one of the highest totals in India. (indianexpress.com) Recent cases kept the issue in public view. In July 2025, 27-year-old Ankit Rao, arrested in a theft case, was found dead after allegedly hanging himself in the lock-up bathroom at Sahar police station in Mumbai. (indianexpress.com) In May 2024, Anuj Thapan, an accused in the firing case outside Salman Khan’s residence, died in a Mumbai Crime Branch lock-up after allegedly hanging himself with a bedsheet, according to police cited by The Indian Express. (indianexpress.com) The state has also been pushed on compensation after suicides in custody. On April 8, 2026, the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission ordered the government to pay Rs 1 lakh to the family of Sagar Thakare, who died by suicide in a police lock-up in Amravati on August 19, 2021. (indianexpress.com) That order followed a Maharashtra Cabinet decision from April 15, 2025, to compensate families of inmates who die in custody: Rs 5 lakh for unnatural deaths and Rs 1 lakh for suicides. The state said the policy was based on a National Human Rights Commission directive dating to 2014. (indianexpress.com) Mumbai Police say the new lock-up clothing is a prevention step for the hours immediately after arrest, when detainees can be especially vulnerable. It does not change the legal scrutiny that follows any custodial death, but it shows how the department is trying to remove the most basic means of self-harm inside a cell. (indianexpress.com)