SAN FRANCISCO CA: Throughout mast of 1992 Amnesty International will devote the attention and pressure of its worldwide membership to preventing and eliminating custodial violence in India the deaths rapes and other tortures which detainees suffer while in police custody. Amnesty exposes the abuses of Indian police and security official’s to press and public scrutiny will generate concern and provoke action among governments and populaces throughout the world will seek to persuade Indian Government officials to provide protection for those in custody will support the brave and fine work of Indian human rights and civil liberties advocacy groups will act on behalf of people currently detained to prevent their torture or death will support the compensation of victims.
Ordinary innocent people are brutally tortured every day in Indian police stations-suspended from ceilings given electric shocks beaten to death. Yet successive governments in indie have denied that torture occurs much less do anything about it Amnesty is proving with its report that torture is in fact epidemic and with its current worldwide action demanding that 10 steps be taken to stop it and prevent it. Bottom line our campaign action is to build international pressure to stop the brutality of the Indian Police and the negligence of the Indian Government.
By denying that torture occurs and failing to condemn it by failing to properly train and provide for the police by failing to ensure that legal safeguards are adhered to and that proper investigations are conducted into alleged human rights violations by endorsing and sometimes participating in police and other cover-ups by failing to ensure that the guilty are brought to justice and by failing to adequately compensate the victims successive Indian governments bear full responsibility for the persistence of widespread torture and rape which cause so many people to die each year in the custody of its law enforcement personnel. Amnesty International believes that the government should now show the political will and determination to change that.
Our information comes from first-hand reports of victims their families and witnesses. We have studied court documents and results of official inquiries. We have received information from Indian civil liberties group’s lawyers and journalists.
The victims of torture in India are nearly all from poor and underprivileged groups members of scheduled castes and tribes landless laborers and. migrant workers. They are often unable to defend themselves from being tortured in the first place or able to obtain justice afterward.
The campaign has begun with the distribution of 5000 copies of our report India: Torture Rape and Deaths in Custody to officials throughout India who are positioned to be able to make a difference. We are simultaneously sending a message of support to the victims, their relative’s lawyers and civil liberties groups who have been pushing for justice for many years.
Amnesty’s report show that many India’s have struggled against great odd to expose torture and to demand accountability. The Indian Government while refusing access to international organizations and failing to respond seriously to the international human rights procedures of the UN has claimed that its legal system free press and civil liberties organizations are adequate to address human rights violations Sadly this is demonstrably not the case. In an era where it is widely recognized that human rights are an international concern those struggling for human rights in India need the active support of the international community.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 3, 1992
