Open Letter the Right Honorable Narisimha Rao. Prime Minister of India
Dear Right Honorable Prime Minister
Since its inception in temporary form in 1985 and in more permanent form in 1987, the Terrorist and Disruptive Act time and again to violate the human rights of individuals in India. Governments and human rights organizations the world, rise to the Indian government to repeal this legislation have fallen on deaf cars,
As signatory to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the government of India is obligated to respect the human rights of its own citizens, to ignore this obligation is to shirk the responsibilities which international citizenship bestows.
Officials from the Indian Government acknowledged the severity of the TADA legislation before the United Nations February of 1994. Saving that great care would be taken in its application, this has not occurred.
Among the provisions of TADA which violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights are the following,” which are so broadly defined as
Section 4(2) of TADA permits the arrest of individuals on the suspicion of having committed “disruptive activities,” ‘include speech, This provision violates Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides for the right of freedom of expression.
Articles 4 and 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights explicitly prohibit torture—even in times of national emergency or threats to national security. Torture is facilitated under TADA by the provision which allows an individual to be detained for up to 180 days without laying any charges – a period that can be extended up to one year if the Public Prosecutor provides specific reasons for the detention, Torture of prisoners is also promoted by the section 20(3) provision which vests power to authorize detentions to three state officers, of which two do not require any legal training.
The in camera Special Court procedure for TADA detainees is a clear contravention of Article 14(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Richs which guarantees the right to a fair and public hearing
The police, paramilitary and army are virtually immune from the law when the violation of human rights is performed in the name of TADA. Section 26 of TADA prohibits the prosecution of anyone “purporting” to exercise powers in good faith in accordance with the Act,
Disappearances of individuals are widespread under TADA. The legal and political rights accorded by Articles 16,9,7 & 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights disallow the practice of state initiated disappearances.
The Indian government is on record stating that TADA is “temporary” legislation in so doing the government has further committed itself to repealing the 1987 legislation.
The undersigned democratically elected Members of the Parliament of Canada, call on the Government of India to honor its commitment and immediately repeal the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act (Signed by) 60 Members of Parliament.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 5, 1995
