WASHINGTON: The US Human rights report for 1990 which was submitted to the Congress recently held India responsible for significant human rights abuses in Kashmir Punjab and the northeastern states.

The report an annual document envisaged in the U.S Foreign Assistance Act said over the four decades since India’s independence control of law and order Operations had moved increasingly under the Union Home Ministry which controlled the nationwide Indian police force the paramilitary forces and the Intelligence Bureau

The very thinly stretched paramilitary which is often poorly trained and equipped to deal with crowd control and public disturbances has frequently resorted quickly to deadly force when faced with large crowds says the Report for 1990 which the State Department submitted to Congress

This tendency stems in part from the rapid growth of the intelligence bureaus which function with little reference to the state governments and in part from increased use of paramilitary forces against armed insurrectionists in disturbed areas it added.

The State Department document made it a point to mention that India is a functioning democracy with strong and legally sanctioned safeguards for individuals a vigorous free press an independent judiciary and active civil liberties organizations.

Nonetheless significant areas of human rights abuses remain many of them generated by severe social tensions related to violent ethnic caste communal and secessionist politics and the authorities’ reaction thereto it said.

The report said the severity of abuses varied from state to state and specifically listed problem areas for 1990.

These were security force excesses against civilians particularly in Kashmir during operations against militants; separatist militants in Punjab including political murder and kidnapping as well as extrajudicial actions by the police  incommunicado detention for prolonged periods without charge under national security laws political killing on an increasingly wide scale and torture and deaths of suspects in policy custody.

It also took note of what it called inadequate although increased prosecution of police and security forces implicated in abuse of detainees including custodial rape uneven implementation of laws affecting women’s nights infrequent exploitation of indentured bonded and child labor and widespread inter caste and communal violence

The State Department’s document is primarily based on information culled from Indian newspapers and reports prepared by various human rights groups in India.

It took note of reported cases of prison abuses in West Bengal and misappropriation of funds by jail authorities in the Marxist-ruled state.

It said scheduled castes and tribes remained particularly vulnerable to police violence. There had been numerous allegations of mass rape of female members of the scheduled castes and tribes by the police it added.

Article extracted from this publication >> February 22, 1991