The United States (US) on Wednesday released its annual report on human rights practices around the world. In its exhaustive report on India, the Department flags concerns over arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, restrictive laws on NGOs, curbs on the freedom of expression, violence against religious minorities, and other arbitrary measures.
The State Department notes that these abuses have been compounded by a lack of accountability for official misconduct, lax enforcement, a shortage of trained police officers, and an “overburdened and under-resourced” court system.
@StateDept report on India’s #humanrights profile comes days after comments by @SecBlinken at a joint press conf w/ EAM @DrSJaishankar & MoD @rajnathsingh, that US is monitoring rising human rights abuses in India, w/concern https://t.co/sNnjiuK7mR
— Maya Mirchandani 🇮🇳 (@maya206) April 14, 2022
It also accuses terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and northeastern states, and Maoists of committing “serious abuses,” including killing and torturing armed forces personnel, police, government officials, and civilians, kidnapping, and recruiting child soldiers.
The following is a brief summary of the report on India:
Section 1: Respect for the Integrity of the Person
It began by accusing the Indian government of committing “arbitrary or unlawful killings,” including the extrajudicial executions of suspected criminals and terrorists. The State Department cites figures from the National Campaign Against Torture, which reported the 111 deaths in police custody in 2020, of which 82 were due to alleged torture.
Terrorists in J&K have killed civilians and politicians, the researchers state. It cites the murder of journalist Shujaat Bukhari by Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in 2018. Furthermore, it states that terrorists killed 10 political leaders in J&K in 2021, including the murders of the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ghulam Rasool Dar and his wife.
The document also accuses the Indian police of failing to file arrest reports for detained persons in several instances, leading to “unresolved disappearances.” Such cases were most notable in areas of conflict and have been attributed to government forces, paramilitary forces, and terrorists.
With regards to instances of torture, it mentions that while Indian law prohibits the use of torture, “there were reports that police forces employed such practices.” It cites evidence of police using torture to obtain evidence, custodial deaths, and unreported rape cases involving police officers. Moreover, it adds that the victims were sometimes subjected to intimidation and attacks.
Additionally, the document states that the police arbitrarily detained people and used special security laws to postpone judicial reviews of arrests. “Pretrial detention was arbitrary and lengthy, sometimes exceeding the duration of the sentence given to those convicted,” it noted.
It provides several examples of cases in which law enforcement agencies arbitrarily detained suspects, including the arrest of climate activist Disha Ravi in February 2021. Ravi was accused of creating and sharing a document that included instructions on how to mobilise against the government’s perceived climate inaction. “After Ravi spent 10 days in jail, a New Delhi court granted her bail on February 23, noting a citizen’s right to dissent from the government,” the report says.
It then moves on to the “seriously overburdened” judicial system and the major shortage of judges, as a result of which trials have experienced “delays, capacity challenges, and corruption,” meaning that unfair trials are a common feature of the Indian judiciary. “There were reported cases in which police denied suspects the right to meet with legal counsel as well as cases in which police unlawfully monitored suspects’ conversations and violated their confidentiality rights.”
Despite privacy being a fundamental right in India, state and central government officials have frequently infringed upon the rights of individuals. The research says that government agencies have unlawfully intercepted communications and conducted surveillance activities.
In this regard, the document cites instances of mass government surveillance targeting journalists using the Pegasus spyware made by Israeli company NSO Group.
People are entitled to have views about us. But we're also equally entitled to have views about their views & about the interests & lobbies and vote banks which drag that. So, whenever there is a discussion, I can tell you that we will not be reticent about speaking up: EAM (2/3) pic.twitter.com/yAsy0obJCi
— ANI (@ANI) April 13, 2022
Section 2: Respect for Civil Liberties
While the government generally has respected the individual right to freedom of expression, there have been “instances in which the government or actors considered close to the government allegedly pressured or harassed media outlets critical of the government, including through online trolling.” It points to Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2021 report, which downgraded from a “free” country to a “partly free” one.
The Freedom House document accuses government agencies of severely curbing the ability of the media, academics, and civil society to express themselves freely. It also refers to the 2021 World Press Freedom Index report, which calls India “dangerous for journalists,” as abuses are committed against media persons by the police, political outfits, and criminals.
The State Department also mentions instances where the government uses libel and national security laws to target journalists. The government has also frequently restricted internet access in conflict areas, preventing journalists from doing their job.
Moreover, the State Department accuses the government of discriminating against Muslims while granting citizenship. It states that while the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act provides an expedited path to citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, it “does not include Muslims from those countries.”
“Following passage of the act, widespread protests against its passage and the exclusion of Muslims from the statute occurred throughout the country, leading to arrests, targeted communications shutdowns, bans on assembly, and deaths in a few instances,” it says.
Furthermore, according to the document, while refugees are generally protected and India hosts tens of thousands of them, there is no asylum law for refugees. In this respect, it says that “refugees reported exploitation by nongovernment actors, including assaults, gender-based violence, fraud, and labour and sex trafficking.”
Section 3: Freedom to Participate in the Political Process
The document states that all social groups were allowed to freely participate in elections and other political processes. “There are no restrictions placed on the formation of political parties or on individuals of any community from participating in the election process,” the State Department wrote.
Section 4: Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government
Noting that while the law provides criminal penalties for corruption by government officials, the document states that government officials “frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.”
Section 5: Government Posture Towards International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights
Most domestic and international human rights organisations operated without government restrictions; however, some NGOs reported occasional harassment and restrictions. It also notes that the United Nations has “limited access” to J&K and northeastern states.
Section 6: Discrimination and Societal Abuses
The section begins by addressing the issue of rape cases. “Official statistics reported rape as one of the country’s fastest-growing crimes, prompted at least in part by the increasing willingness of survivors to report rapes,” the document says.
However, “the number of rapes remained vastly underreported” and “legal recourse for rape survivors were inadequate, and the judicial system was unable to address the problem effectively.” “Police sometimes worked to reconcile rape survivors and their attackers. In some cases, they encouraged female rape survivors to marry their attackers,” it adds.
“Rape continued to be a persistent problem, including gang rape, rape of minors, rape against lower-caste women or women from religious and nonreligious minority communities by upper-caste men, and rape by government officials,” the researchers wrote.
Next, it says that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) continues to be practised by 70% to 90% of Dawoodi Bohras, a population of approximately one million persons concentrated in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Delhi. It notes that there is no law to address the issue of FGM.
Regarding the issue of sexual harassment, the report says that it “remains a serious problem” despite government efforts to combat it.
Furthermore, the Department of State posits that widespread discrimination against women in workplaces and the practice of sex-based abortions still exists despite legislation against it, pointing that “This resulted in a sex ratio of 889 females per 1,000 males (or 112 males per 100 females) per the 2011 census.”
Per the document, crimes against Dalits have continued to rise, quoting a 2020 report by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) that reported over 50,000 crimes against scheduled castes in 2020, an increase of 9.4% from 2019. “Crimes committed against Dalits reportedly often went unpunished, either because authorities failed to prosecute perpetrators or because victims did not report crimes due to fear of retaliation,” it reads.
Regarding the rights of children, it found increasing instances of online child sexual harassment, and with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic forcing children to spent more time on the internet, they were “more vulnerable to online sexual predators.”
Moreover, there has been a rise in attacks against the LGBTQI+ community. “LGBTQI+ persons faced physical attacks and rape. LGBTQI+ groups reported they experienced widespread societal discrimination and violence, particularly in rural areas,” it states, adding that “some police officers committed crimes against LGBTQI+ persons and used the threat of arrest to coerce victims not to report the incidents.”
The State Department also found a rise in “communal violence” against Muslim communities. “Media and NGO sources reported violence against Muslim communities continued during the year with cases of physical abuse, discrimination, forcible displacement, and lynching for suspected cow smuggling.”
Additionally, states have continued to pass laws “intended to end forced religious conversion for the purpose of marriage.” “These ‘love jihad’ laws seek to make forced religious conversion by marriage a criminal offense and have mainly targeted Muslim men attempting to marry Hindu women,” according to the report.
Section 7: Workers Rights
Despite prohibiting forced labour, the government did little to address the issue. The document states, “Some local governments did not effectively enforce laws related to bonded labour or labour trafficking laws, such as the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act.”
“Investigations, prosecutions, and case convictions of traffickers decreased in 2020. NGOs estimated at least eight million trafficking victims in the country, mostly in bonded labour, and reported that police often did not file reports,” it adds.
Regarding child labour, it says that the issue remains a common problem despite efforts to combat its prevalence. “Children typically entered debt bondage along with their entire family, and trafficked children were also employed in cotton farms, home-based embroidery businesses, and roadside restaurants,” the researchers wrote.
It also mentions that employers, particularly in the informal sector, continue to violate minimum wage laws and occupational safety standards. “Within the informal sector, casual or temporary wage workers were more likely to lose employment than self-employed workers, regardless of industry, location, education, or caste,” the report emphasised.
Responding to the State Department's findings, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Wednesday that India also has concerns regarding the human rights situation in the US.
Strong comment by EAM comes after:
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) April 13, 2022
-2 Sikhs wr attacked on Tuesday in Richmond Hill, New York state
--US released its global human rights report
-- & Blinken in his prepared remarks at 2+2 mentioned abt India's human rights⤵️https://t.co/kBMtkxSSDb
“Look, people are entitled to have views about us. But we are also equally entitled to have views about their views and about the interests, and the lobbies and the vote banks which drive that. So, whenever there is a discussion, I can tell you that we will not be reticent about speaking out,” Jaishankar told the Press Trust of India.