NEW DELHI: Amnesty International is virtually returning from India empty-handed. The Indian government refused permission to a delegation of the London-based human rights group to visit the states from where maximum complaints of human rights violations had been received such as Punjab Kashmir Andhra Pradesh Tamil Nadu and parts of north-eastern region. Also the group failed to meet any officer serving in

Jammu and Kashmir for information as the Indian government declined such permission The delegation could not meet even such a junior officer as the Delhi police commissioner.

The visitors had also expressed a wish to meet the Indian prime minister but he was said to be too pre-occupied to spare any time for the group. The Amnesty team tried in the course of its discussions with home minister S.B.Chayan and other officers to persuade them to withdraw or improve upon anti-human rights laws such as the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act and the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act but in vain.

The Indian authorities defended the legislation as necessary to meet a “temporary” crisis (the life of these laws is being extended for more than a decade).

They said that international covenant on human rights permitted such laws to be enacted. Indian officers said that similar laws also obtained in Sri Lanka Pakistan and even U.K

The only consolation the Amnesty team could draw from its Delhi visit was that it could meet certain local human rights groups who informed the visitors that 64 more deaths had been reported in India police custody which is over and above the Amnesty figure of 415 listed by it in its recent report. Indian authorities explained the details of 237 cases only. They admitted 77 deaths in police custody.

They said that compensation had been granted in eight cases and the guilty officers had been convicted in six cases. Indian authorities did not explain what happened to 63 cases.

Amnesty representatives pleaded in the course of their meetings with Indian authorities that the army should be brought under the purview of the proposed human rights commission.

Article extracted from this publication >> December 4, 1992