SEPTEMBER 10, 2020
Violation of human rights by the state, through wrongful confinement and arrest, imposes a liability on the state, one being of compensation. However, does the victim have a right to claim compensation? RAVI NAIR of South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre examines the Indian jurisprudence on compensation to victims of state negligence and persecution.
INDIAN citizens, who are unlawfully arrested, detained, tortured, and even killed while in police custody are not guaranteed a right to compensation. International standards require reparations and compensation for victims of violations of fundamental rights.
Read more ...
OCTOBER 02, 2018
Open Letter to the UN Secretary-General
Dear Secretary-General,
I write to you in great hope. Your human rights credentials are impeccable. You fought the Salazar and Caetano dictatorships. As UN High Commissioner for Refugees, you put the protection of refugees back at the centre of UNHCR’s work.
Your present visit to India comes at a time of a serious backlash against human rights. I hope you will speak about some of these issues, in your public pronouncements and in your talks with government. Some key questions I hope you will raise are:
Caste and sanitation– As the Government of India observes Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary at the grand conference on sanitation that you will be attending, we ask you to urge the organisers to take a close look at the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on water and sanitation who visited India recently. The rapporteur emphasized that “States cannot fully realize the human rights to water and sanitation without addressing stigma as a root cause of discrimination and other human rights violations”.
Read more ...
October 01, 2018
Uncivil Law, Lessons from India’s failed “anti-terror” legislation
In late August, while investigating the violence at the Bhima Koregaon memorial in Pune earlier this year, the Pune police raided the homes of several well-known human-rights activists, scholars and lawyers, and arrested five among them. The arrests were made under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act—a law that has been widely criticised for its draconian nature. Amid public outcry over the arrests, the Congress too panned the government.
“There is only place for one NGO in India and it’s called the RSS,” the Congress’s president, Rahul Gandhi, tweeted. “Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain. Welcome to the new India. #BhimaKoregaon.” The Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi stepped up to argue in favour of the accused in the Supreme Court.
Read more ...
28 August, 2018
नज़रिया: 'नक्सलवादी हौआ से फ़ायदा लेने की कोशिश में मोदी सरकार'
https://www.bbc.com/hindi/india-45339311?ocid=socialflow_facebook
English translation of original in Hindi at url given above
28 August 2018 or 28 August 1933
India faced with stark choices
The arrests of 5 senior activists on 28 August 2018 and the searches conducted on the homes of other well known Activists is a premonition of things to come. It is evident that the Modi Government is now trying to play on fears of a deep rooted Maoist conspiracy to shore up its fast eroding electoral fortunes. “Urban Naxals”, have been conjured up from the Deep State’s copious magic hat. “Naxalites” is a term that is used to denote tribal Maoists engaged in armed opposition activities in Central India. The ragtag Maoist Peoples Liberation Army is now sought to be portrayed as the greatest threat to Modi and his vision of a corporate India.
Read more ...
September 22, 2017
Of interest was the statement by the NHRC. It was a vastly improved statement than the one made in May. Though the NHRC claims it differs from the Home Ministry on the proposed deportation of Rohingya refugees, it is yet to intervene in the Supreme Court on this matter
The adoption of India’s report to the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva last evening, by consensus, hid more than it revealed to the public eye. India blunted the criticism of member states by stating it had accepted 152 out of the 250 recommendations made to it in May, when India’s third periodic report was reviewed. As for the remaining 98 recommendations, India merely took “note” of them.
Human rights worthies like China, the Ivory Coast, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Kyrghyzstan, Peoples Democratic Republic of Laos and Libya lauded India’s efforts. It was difficult not to notice the raised eyebrows in many parts of the room when the very democratic Lao People’s Democratic Republic lauded freedom of religion in India!
Estonia, the little Baltic state which is currently President of the European Council, was honest. It welcomed India’s decision to ratify the UN Convention against Torture (CAT), which India had signed in 1997. India had made a similar commitment during the earlier second periodic review process in 2012. Only to forget it before the ink was dry.
Read more ...