From a region with ethnic and political contrasts, recent human rights violations are documented through medical examinations of a small sample of victims and through information given by local medical doctors and lawyers. Within the individual case stories of torture, there was consistency between the history and the clinical and paraclinical data. Furthermore, the sum of the evidence fitted into a general pattern of torture and killing of civilians committed by the Indian Security Force. Cases of rarely documented mutilating torture are presented. Examples of difficulties in the assessment of complicated cases where a complete history could not be obtained are given, together with examples of difficulties and inaccuracies arising from the use of interpreters, who were possibly biased.