New Delhi: The US state department said a lack of accountability for official misconduct contributed to impunity in addressing India’s adverse human rights situation, even as a senior official said that Washington has always urged New Delhi to uphold its obligations.
The 2022 US country report on human rights practices was released on Monday, compiled by the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour to submit to the US Congress.
At a press conference, the acting assistant secretary for the Bureau Of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, Erin Barclay, was asked a question about the concerns over India’s human rights violations, as well as the income tax survey on the BBC office after the broadcast of a documentary on Gujarat riots.
She stated that the US and India “regularly consult at the highest levels on democracy and human rights issues”. “We have, and we will continue to strongly urge India to uphold its human rights obligations and commitments,” she added.
She added that the Indian government should also consult with civil society regularly, just as the US government does in both the “US and in India to hear their perspectives and learn from their experiences”.
While not directly condemning the BBC tax raid, she claimed that India had been told about the US’s support for free press worldwide. “On the BBC issue, we’re, of course, aware of the BBC issues, and we will continue to support free press around the world and have communicated the same.”
Also read: ‘Support Importance of Press Freedom’: US on BBC Documentary Ban in India
The US secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, had said, earlier this month, that human rights issues figured in a bilateral meeting with external affairs minister S. Jaishankar on the sidelines of the G-20 foreign ministers’ meeting.
In 2022, Blinken twice raised concerns about human rights issues in India. He had specifically referred to the rise in human rights abuses “by some government, police and prison officials”. In retaliation, the Union government had said that it also had trepidation about the human rights situation in the United States.
Echoing similar concerns about the role of government officers, the country report on India said, “A lack of accountability for official misconduct persisted at all levels of the government, contributing to widespread impunity. Lax enforcement, a shortage of trained police officers, and an overburdened and under-resourced court system contributed to a low number of convictions.”
The ”significant human rights issues” with “credible reports” include cases of extrajudicial killing by the government or its agents, unjustified arrest or prosecution of journalists, political prisoners or detainees, harassment of human rights groups and refoulement of refugees, the report said.
On the issue of political prisoners and detainees, the report said that there were “isolated reports”, mainly referring to Kashmir. “Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who was released in 2020, alleged that she was subjected to periods of house arrest through the year, which security officials at times denied. Chairman of the separatist Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq continued to be under house arrest, and political parties called for his release,” it said.
The US state department’s report quoted the international NGO Human Rights Watch’s 2022 report that said Indian authorities “continued to intimidate and harass journalists and news outlets critical of the government through politically motivated lawsuits and tax raids”.
It said that instances of online and mobile harassment, and internet ‘trolling’ continued to rise. “In some instances, police used information provided by anonymous social media users as a pretext to initiate criminal proceedings against journalists,” it said.
Further, the document noted that there were “reports the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings of suspected criminals and terrorists”. It added that prisoners or detainees were reported to have been killed or died in police and judicial custody.
Observing that Indian law does not contain the term ‘refugee’, the report said such refugees were treated as any other foreigner. “Undocumented physical presence in the country is a criminal offence. Persons without documentation were vulnerable to detention, forced returns, and abuse. The country historically treated persons as refugees based on the merits and circumstances of the cases,” it said.
Regarding the deportation of refugees, the report noted that India had advocated for the refoulement of refugees to Myanmar. Quoting the Ministry of Home Affairs data, it said that 5,796 Burmese refugees, who had entered India after the February 2021 military coup, were “pushed back”.
“On March 22, Hasina Begum, a Rohingya detained in March 2021 from Jammu’s Bathindi, was deported to Burma through the Moreh border in Manipur, leaving behind her husband, Ali Johar, and three young children,” the 2022 human rights report said.
