The report identifies four “structural forces” that will shape the trajectory of global risks over the world across the next decade. These forces involve global warming and its consequences, secondly, the changes in the size, growth, and structure of global populations, thirdly, the developmental of advanced technologies, and fourth and lastly, the concentration of power and resources geopolitically and the shifts in this power equation. 

The report details environmental risks taken as the most important and dangerous aspect. About two-thirds of the respondents have ranked Extreme Weather as the top risk that would most likely be the cause for sparking a global crisis in 2024. The report notes that the warming phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle is projected to intensify and persist until May in 2024. 

Amid these pressing global challenges, the report identifies the increasing and rising threat of misinformation and disinformation, and categorises it as the most severe global risk anticipated over the next two years. The report has highlighted the need for global cooperation and strategic measures to counteract this growing issue. Misinformation is ranked as the fifth most impactful risk over the next decade. The report further warns how the pandemic has made it a vulnerable landscape and also a fertile ground for the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation, which in turn can worsen societal and political divisions. The report highlights how in the context of 3 billion people heading to electoral polls in 2024, a list which includes India, and thus concludes that in the light of the widespread use of misinformation, this poses an even greater danger. 

The report connects misinformation strongly to, what it calls, societal polarisation. The report categories societal polarisation as a top-three risks over both the current and two-year time horizons. The report warns that as polarisation intensifies and technological risks remain unchecked and advance without any external scrutiny, the idea of ‘truth’ will face increased pressure. Additionally, societal polarisation and the economic upheaval are identified as the most interconnected risks in the global risks network by the report. Incidentally, India is marked the country most at risk to witness polarisation in society due to the rise of misinformation and false narratives in the coming year. Other countries similarly marked include El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Romania etc. 

The report suggests that the coming decade is likely to be a period marked by heavy unpredictability as the globe will be navigating geopolitical transformations, climate shifts, demographic changes, and technological advancements. During this time, the report highlights and stresses the need for global cooperation and also urged for countries and institutions to take use of opportunities for proactive measures. The report argues that addressing these challenges with custom made strategies implemented and curated at the local level can effectively work as a damage control strategy to mitigate risks. 

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The said report comprehensively provides the details of the many anti-Muslim and anti-Christian attacks that took place in the third quarter of the year 2023. The said report had been divided into four main parts. The attacks against both the religious minorities were covered separately by the report. 

Persecution and discrimination against Muslims (Part one)

The first part of the report, titled ‘Persecution and Discrimination against Muslims’, provides a detailed version of the targeted attacks and Islamophobia that the Muslim community had to face, mostly by the hands of the majoritarian groups. The attacks covered in the portion include the reported cases of verbal abuse, physical abuse, harassment, lynching, discriminations, grievous hurt and even death caused.

Attacks on Muslims:

These incidents of anti-Muslim attacks have been reported from the length and breadth of the country. The cases included in the report were reported from the state of Uttarakhand (1), Karnataka (2), Uttar Pradesh (9), Telangana (1), Madhya Pradesh (3), Rajasthan (5), Assam (2), Jharkhand (1), Haryana (2), Delhi (1) Punjab (1) and Maharashtra (3).

July: This month saw the Muslim community being attacked in the beginning for celebrating Eid. During the last days of Eid celebration, Muslims saw harassment by Hindu women for selling juice while another mob of Hindu men accused and harassed a Muslim on the false allegations of cow slaughter. Notably, 2 cases of extreme police brutality and custodial torture resulting in the death of the men detained on false cases and without any due process of law were also reported. The month also saw cases of Muslim men being attacked by Hindu groups for no other reason than their religious identity. While in one such case the Muslim man was forced to lick the feet of the Hindu oppressors, another case was reported where the Muslim man was forced to chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’ and suffered physical abuse. Many other such cases were presented in the report for the month of July itself. Cases of moral policing, targeting and lynching based on rumours of theft, sexual harassment and rape of Muslim women were also reported. 

In one case, in Assam’s Burha Chapori Wildlife Sanctuary on 17 July, a clash between the forest department officials and displaced Muslim residents who were returning to the sanctuary due to flooding in their makeshift settlements, resulted in the forest guards resorting to violence. The firing by the forest guards left one Muslim woman dead and 4 Muslims hospitalised. 

July was also the month wherein a shocking incident of anti-Muslim killings had occurred. On 31 July, on the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express train, a Railway Protection Force constable named Chetan Kumar Choudhary had opened fire, killing his superior officer, Assistant Sub-Inspector Tika Ram Meena, and three other Muslim passengers for their faith. A video of him giving an anti-Muslim speech standing next to the bleeding body of a victim and asking people to vote for Modi and Yogi had gone viral. 

August: The month of August also saw enforcement authorities targeting Muslims and subjecting them to excessive force. In Rajasthan, one Muslim man had lost his life and two others were injured when a mob attacked them for ‘illegally’ chopping wood. The arrested included four forest officials. In the same month, a Muslim elderly couple was beaten to death with sticks as their son had ran away with a Hindu girl. At least 2 cases were reported where Muslim men were found dead, lynched and beaten due to their religious identity. The false narrative of ‘Love Jihad’ was also used to target Muslim men. 

The incident of a Hindu teacher encouraging her students to slap a 7-year-old Muslim child from Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh had also been reported during late August. The said video, where the teacher had also made disparaging and stereotypical remarks against the Muslim community had caused an uproar. The teacher had made comments suggesting that his academic performance was influenced by his Muslim background. It is essential to note, that on September 29, the said teacher was arrested. 

September: Many incidents of hate crimes were reported in the said month. In Satara, a conflict between the communities had result in a large Hindu mob attacking a mosque and forcing their way inside it with iron rods and batons. The mob then killed one man and caused severe injuries to at least fourteen others. 

A protest against discrimination also saw the protesting students being arrested dragged and beaten in Punjab. The hijabs of Muslim female students were also forcibly removed. In three of the incidents included in the report for the month of September, young Muslim men were beaten to death. In one such incident that took place on 26 September in Delhi’s Nand Nagri area, a 26-year-old disabled Muslim man named Mohammed Israr died after a mob brutally attacked him. According to Israr’s father, Abdul Wajid, his son had eaten a religious offering, resulting in brutal mob violence.

Violence in Nuh:

The report also provides an overview of the communal violence that broke out in Muslim majority Nuh district of BJP-ruled Haryana state. A religious procession taken out by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal had met with stone pelting which had resulting in a deadly break out of communal violence, continuing for days, in many districts of Haryana. The trigger for violence were deemed to have been some threatening videos featuring the infamous cow vigilantes Monu Manesar and Bittu Bajrangi. Another trigger was the anti-Muslim hate speeches that had been delivered by the leaders of these fringe groups before taking out the procession. 

The violence had continued for days, and resulted in six killings, injuries to dozens, and damage to hundreds of cars, homes, and places of worship. The aftermath saw the violence spreading and the Muslim community being openly targeted in the state by far-right extremists. Calls for violence against Muslims as well as their economic and social boycott were made. District panchayats had also taken out resolutions barring Muslim traders from entering their villages. 

The report also highlighted the illegal demolitions without notices, arbitrary police raids and arrests and abuse of law that had followed wherein even minors were picked up by the police and kept in police custody in contravention to the established laws. These aforementioned acts and illegal crackdown by the state had led to a big proportion of impoverished Muslim migrant families fleeing from Haryana.  The situation had become so dire that the Punjab and Haryana High Court had taken suo-moto cognizance of the demolitions and raised concerns about the ethnic cleansing of Muslims. 

Anti-Muslim hate speech:

The report provides a number of instances between July and September where prominent far-right leaders had delivered anti-Muslim speeches with impunity. Most of the names mentioned in the report are repeat offenders who have been continuously indulging in spreading their divisive and partisan ideology.

July: Speakers such as Sudarshan News chairperson Suresh Chavhanke, Hindu Jagran Manch leader Kamal Gautam, far-right leader Samiksha Singh, Kalicharan Maharaj, Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP) leader Praveen Togadia, and Hindu Rashtra Sena leader Dhananjay Desai had delivered anti-Muslim and anti-minority hate speeches. The speeches consisted of disseminating divisive rhetoric, fear-mongering tactics, anti-Muslim instigating slurs, and conspiracy theories targeting Muslims. Not only leaders of fringe outfits, but also members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) targeted the Muslim community and delivered misleading speeches. On July 13, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of Assam sparked controversy by attributing the rising vegetable prices in Guwahati to the Bengali-origin Muslim community, pejoratively referred to as ‘miyas’. Sarma claimed that ‘miyas’ charged higher prices compared to Assamese traders. Furthermore, he encouraged Assamese youth to compete vigorously with ‘miyas’ in business.

August: In the beginning of the month, protest rallies were organised by the VHP and Bajrang Dal in regards to the communal violence that had unfolded during their religious procession in Nuh. Rampant hate speeches had flown during these rallies. In one such rally, a demonstrator had issued a warning to local shopkeepers to dismiss any Muslim employees or face potential boycotting. In another one of their rallies, participants had chanted anti-Muslim slogans such as “Desh ke gaddaron ko goli maaron saalon ko” (“shoot the traitors of the country”) and “Allah kehne nahi dena, ek bhi mullah rehene nahi dena” (“we won’t let them say Allah, and we won’t let Muslims live”). Unauthorised Mahapanchayats had also taken place during the month in Haryana where open threats against Muslims were made in the presence of police. 

September: The report provides that a disturbing series of incidents unfolded across various locations in India where continuous hate speeches were delivered from September 21-24. As per the report, on September 21, a Hindu far-right leader delivered an inflammatory speech event, demonizing Muslims and calling for their ostracisation. The following day, a Bajrang Dal leader issued threats against Muslims, asserting that his organization would not tolerate the presence of mosques and Muslim shrines in India. On September 24, Hindu Raksha Dal leader Pinky Chaudhry delivered hate speeches against Muslims while employing anti-Muslim slurs and attempting to incite hostility against the Muslim community.

The IAMC report also presents the data and findings provided by the report of US-based journalist Raqib Hameed Naik which had documenting all verified instances of hate speech events organized by Hindu far-right groups against India’s Muslim minorities in the first half of 2023. The said report revealed that in the first 181 days of 2023, there were 255 recorded instances of hate speech gatherings targeting Muslims across 17 states in India, out of which 205 (80%) had been made in BJP-ruled stated and union territories. Furthermore, the said report had found that 51% of all the hate speech gatherings featured anti-Muslim conspiracy theories such as “love jihad,” “land jihad,” “mazar jihad,” “halal jihad,” and others. A concerning 33% of all the gatherings explicitly called for violence against Muslims. About 11% of events included explicit calls for Hindus to boycott Muslims. Disturbingly, 4% of all the events featured hate-filled and sexist speeches explicitly targeting Muslim women. Nearly 12% of events featured calls to arms.

Illegal Demolitions and Evictions:

The IAMC report lists eight incidents of illegal demolitions and evictions that took place between the three months. In the cases of illegal demolitions, complaints from the Hindutva organisations to the state administrations would lead to either sealing or demolition of mosques and other properties. In most of these cases, illegal construction or encroachment of government land or railway land would be citied. Many historical mosques and shrines were razed down under the garb of illegal construction. 

Cases of forced closure of meat selling shops, especially in the state of Uttar Pradesh, would also surface. The police administration, without any mention of law applicable, would close down meat shops or prohibit them from selling meat during Hindu festivals. 

Eviction drives would also be carried out under the garb of clearing encroachments from government land or railway land. On July 22, the administration in Uttarakhand’s Nainital City had conducted a demolition operation, bulldozing multiple structures with the assistance of six JCB machines. Even the Uttarakhand High Court had not come to the rescue of the people facing eviction and it was only after the Supreme Court had gotten involved that the eviction had been stayed. On the same day, 210 families residing in Nanke Daranga were accused by the forest department in Assam of ‘encroaching’ upon Daranga forest land.67 The notices issued by the department ordered the villagers to vacate the land within 15 days, citing illegal occupation and the threat of appropriate action under forest laws.

Other than the authorities, fringe groups on multiple occasions took hammers to the Muslims religious places and other structures and committed vandalism. Many such incidents have been documented by the report. 

Cow Vigilantism:

Ten cases of cow vigilantism have been recorded and presented by the IAMC report. From being attacked by swords by a group of cow vigilantes under Bittu Bajrangi, facing threats, harassment and abuses by members of VHP and Bajrang Dal to having their shops raided and closed illegally and forcefully, the so-called cow vigilantes wreaked havoc at the Muslim community shop owners and cattle traders. In addition to this, mob lynchings based on suspicions of cattle theft, illegal cattle trading/transporting and cow slaughter added to the fear faced by the Muslim community. 

Persecution and discrimination against Christians (Part two)

This part includes incidents of anti-Christian attacks have been reported in the three mentioned months from different parts of the country. The attacks covered in the portion include the reported cases of verbal abuse, physical abuse, harassment, lynching, discriminations, grievous hurt and even death caused. Details of the incidents where false allegations of forced religious conversion that are used as a justification by the majoritarian groups to harass Christians is also given. The cases included in the report were reported from the state of Maharashtra (1), Uttar Pradesh (4), Madhya Pradesh (4) and Delhi (1). 

July: The month of July had begun with the video of a Christian principal of a school, wearing torn clothes, being assaulted and chased by a mob of people donning a saffron scarf in Maharahstra. Claims were made by Bajrang Dal and some parents that the Christians principal had allegedly forced students to recite Christian prayers and installed CCTV cameras in the girls’ toilet. However, subsequent investigations by the Pimpri Chinchwad police found no evidence of forced prayer and clarified that the CCTVs were not inside the toilets but in common areas.

At least two cases of arrests of pastors and other Christian people being arrested based on the farce of forced religious conversions have been listed in the report. In all these cases, members of the Christian community were abused by Hindutva extremists. Even a Christian orphanage was abruptly shut down due to allegations of religious conversion attempts. Due to the bogey of religious conversion, Christian traders also faced prohibition from entering villages. 

August: Multiple incidents of community gathers being disturbed, vandalism, destroying bibles, harassment and even sexual assault have been report in this part at the hands individuals associated with extremist Hindutva groups. The report also provides the details of an incident where the law enforcement authorities themselves in committing discriminatory and intrusive acts. In late August, police in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, issued intrusive questionnaires to around 40 churches, requesting information on Christian activities over the past three months. The questionnaires covered various aspects, including Christian objectives, suspicious conversions, NGO operations, and foreign funding. 

September: More incidents of arrests under the allegations of illegal conversions have been provided in the report. Towards the end of September, Hindu extremists stormed St. Mary’s Convent School in Deori, Madhya Pradesh, accusing the school of disrespecting the Hindu god Ganesh and demanding a police investigation.

Violence in Manipur: A separate section under the same part had been dedicated to the violence engulfed state of Manipur. A brief overview of the clashes and tensions that existed between the Meitei community, predominantly Hindu, and the Kuki-Zo community, Christian tribal groups, has been provided. On May 3, after the Kuki-Zo community took out a protest rally against the Manipur High Court judgment on the inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes, the ethnic differences exacerbated and violence broke out in the state. This violence has This has resulted in a large number of deaths, mostly from the Kuki ethnic community, acts of sexual violence, extrajudicial killings, extensive property destruction, torture, and the forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people. Bouts of violence have been detailed in the report.

 Jammu and Kashmir (Part three)

The third part provides a glance into the affairs of the (now) Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Many incidents of injustices at the hands of the administration and law enforcement officers have also been highlighted. The report further details the curb on dissent and the gag on press freedom. 

The report details how, in late July, the Indian government suspended the passports of several Kashmiris, including journalists and critics, in a move viewed as an effort to suppress dissent in the region. Approximately ten individuals, both in Kashmir and abroad, received emails citing Section 10(3) of The Passports Act, alleging they posed a threat to Indian security. However, as per the report, they claimed there were no charges against them. The report also alleges that the police of Jammu and Kashmir is indulging in monitoring and tracking the social media of those individuals and entities involved in activities classified as “anti-national” on these platforms.

In the month of August, the Kashmiri administration removed works by award-winning writers, Basharat Peer and Agha Shahid Ali, from M.A English curricula at government-run universities, alleging “secessionist ideology.” The same move attracted the concerns of the Human Rights Watch over the escalating repression. The report provides that the HRW asserted that Indian authorities are “restricting free expression, peaceful assembly, and other basic rights,” and that “repressive policies and failure to investigate and prosecute alleged security force abuses have increased insecurity. Following this, on September 1, Kashmiri socio-political activist Waqar H. Bhatti was arrested due to a complaint made by a BJP leader, who had accused him of inciting religious discord through his critical remarks. He was later granted interim bail but faces charges under sections 153 A, 500, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. 

Recommendations (Part four)

The report provides the following recommendations-

• The Indian government should prioritise enacting and enforcing robust legislation that specifically protects the rights of religious minorities, addresses hate speech, communal violence, and targeted attacks, holding perpetrators accountable for their actions.
• The Indian government should ensure that the right to freedom of religion is protected and available to each citizen without fear of persecution or coercion. 
• Independent oversight bodies should be established to monitor and report cases of abuse and discrimination against religious minorities as well as to address the issue of human rights violations and ensure impartial investigations
• The government should immediately take decisive action to halt the violence against Kuki-Zomi tribals in Manipur. The centre and state governments should enforce stringent measures to protect ethnic minorities and ensure their safety.
• The Union government must pass a national anti-lynching bill to protect religious minorities from Hindu militias and cow vigilante groups.
• BJP-led state governments must uphold every citizen’s right to a safe home and immediately stop bulldozing Muslim homes, livelihoods, and places of worship in the name of anti-encroachment drives.
• The international community should engage with the Indian government and express concern over the treatment of religious minorities.

The complete report can be read here:

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The United Nations (UN) marked the first-ever International Day to Combat Islamophobia with a special event on March 15, where speakers upheld the need for concrete action in the face of rising hatred, discrimination and violence against Muslims. On this day, it is important to highlight the need for making concrete and conscious efforts in curbing anti-Muslim hate online. In latter half of last year,a report was released which contained worrying trends and numbers of digital islamophobia.A study on the issue of ‘Islamophobia in the digital age: A study of anti-Muslim tweets’ was conducted by the Islamic Council of Victoria, and a report containing their key findings and recommendations had been published.  In the said report, the research that was conducted indicated that Islamophobia is more prevalent on the web than it is in real life.The report had stated that according to experts, this growth in digital Islamophobia is fuelling a vicious cycle whereby online expressions of hate incite offline attacks on Muslims, which in turn provoke more online hate. Despite the apparent severity of rising digital Islamophobia, there has been relatively little research into its prevalence and causes, and through this said report, an attempt had been made to change that.

Key Findings of the Report:

The data in the said report had been harnessed using cutting-edge machine learning techniques to automatically identify hateful content. As per their investigation, it had been revealed that there were at least 3,759,180 Islamophobic posts made on Twitter between 28 August, 2019 and 27 August, 2021. Even more concerning, however, wastheir discovery that only a mere 14.83% of anti-Muslim tweets end up being removed. The report provides that even after close to a year, 85% of hateful tweets were still online

The researchers in the said report revealed that a strong correlation existed between spikes in hate and newsworthy events related to Islam, particularly protests, terrorist attacks and eruptions of conflict in the Muslim world to the islamophobic comments made by leaders of the countries. In reference to this, it was provided in the report that the third-largest spike in Islamophobic tweets was observed on February 25, 2020, which was found to be the result of hateful remarks made by leaders of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against Muslim protesters of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Further in their report, it was also discovered that nearly 86% of geolocated anti-Muslim posts originated in just three places: India, the US and the UK. With regard to India, the report provided that link to the rampancy of Islamophobia can be made to the fact that the BJP is currently in power. Indeed, from the BJP’s refusal to condemn Ranjeet Bahadur Srivastava’s assertion that ‘the party will bring machines from China to shave 10–12 thousand Muslims and later force them to adopt Hindu religion’ to their passing of a law that discriminatorily deprives Muslim refugees of a pathway to citizenship, there are an endless number of examples of how the BJP has actively normalised hatred towards Muslims such that 55.12% of Islamophobic tweets now originate in India, the report stated.

Discussing the case of the US, the report stated that even although Islamophobia had long been a problem, it was found that it was dramatically exacerbated by the racist, conspiratorial and inflammatory rhetoric employed by Donald Trump. The instance of Trump’s response to the assassination of Qasem Soleimani was noted in the report, which had triggered a massive spike in hate on January 3, 2020, with some 9,302 anti-Muslim tweets being made that day. It was also reported that Trump ranked as the third most frequently mentioned user in Islamophobic posts, a great many of which were focused on defending his ban on Muslim immigration, in addition to forwarding his theory that the Democrats were collaborating with ‘the Islamists’ to take over the West.

The report also observed the most common themes in Islamophobic tweets, the most prevalent of which were:

• The association of Islam with terrorism: According to the report, the problem with using terms, such as jihadi, Islamic terrorist, Pakistani, islamist, islamofacist, etc., is that they imply that Islam is in some way connected to terrorism, or at the very least, that the Islamic faith of terrorists is relevant to their actions. And thus, just as their use has grown amongst public officials and news media, so too has that perceived link between Islam and terrorism, leading to the present state of affairs where ‘kill’, ‘attack’ and ‘jihad’ are all some of the most frequently used terms in anti-Muslim tweets
• The depiction of Muslim men as perpetrators of sexual violence:The report provided insight into another major trope observed in Islamophobic tweets, which was the depiction of Muslim men as perpetrators of sexual violence. This usually occurred through the propagation of the ‘love jihad’ theory – defined by Iselin Frydenlund and EvianeLeidig as the ‘conspiratorial notion that Muslim men strategically allure and entrap [typically South Asian] non-Muslim women with the intent to marry and convert them to Islam as part of an Islamization project’.According to the report, the popularity of this theory was such that ‘lovejihad’ ranked as the most frequently used hashtag in Islamophobic tweets, a finding we largely hold the BJP responsible for. Indeed, rather than attempting to dispel the hateful myth, the BJP has effectively endorsed it by, inter alia, passing new ‘love jihad laws’ that criminalise forcible conversions via marriage, the report had stated.

Recommendations given in the report:

The report concludedfrom these findings that radical changes are necessary to both Twitter’s moderation policies and online safety law, without which it is all the more likely that the problem of digital Islamophobia will grow to a point of intractability. Some of the recommendations provided are as follows:

• For Policymakers:

The report recommended that the needs for imposing a statutory duty of care on social media platforms to protect users from Islamophobia as well as introduce penalties for platforms that fail to act to prevent the mass dissemination of anti-Muslim content.

For the Indian government, the report suggested that work towards combatting Islamophobia should be done in understanding that anti-Muslim content produced in India is contributing to the radicalisation of far-right extremists in the West in a vicious cycle of affirmation and amplification.

• For Twitter:

The report suggested that twitter should discontinue the policy of not screening tweets, and instead begin developing new capabilities for the automatic detection and removal of hateful content. Additionally, it is recommended that they should establish an independent oversight body comprised of experts in Islamophobia to continuously evaluate the effectiveness of moderation policies.

The full report can be read here:

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The post India tops online anti-Muslim hate posts, 3rd largest spike in Islamophobic tweets: 2022 Report appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A detailed report has been submitted by the amici Jaideep Gupta and Ms Meenakshi Arora before the Supreme Court which poses some compelling questions before the Centre, including how it proposes to meet the target of vaccinating 100 crore people by December with the current vaccine production capacity, and how the new vaccine policy fails to give clarity on a number of issues. The order passed by the three-judge Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Ravindra Bhat and Nageswara Rao includes this point by point iteration of the amici on the Centre’s new vaccine policy for Phase III and the affidavit filed by it.

On April 30, the court had passed a detailed order on issues like vaccination policy, supply of essential drugs, supply of medical oxygen, medical infrastructure, augmentation of healthcare workforce and the issues faced by them, and issues of freedom of speech and expression during the Covid-19 pandemic. The court had also directed the Centre to reconsider its policies on these issues.

During the May 31 hearing, the court limited itself to hearing aand deliberating on the issue of the vaccine policy. During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on behalf of the Centre supplemented the affidavit, and submitted that the vaccination drive will be completed by December and that it would be incorrect to state that the policy of vaccination of 18-44 age group will create competition among states.

The amici Jaideep Gupta and Ms Meenakshi Arora raised certain issues with regard to vaccine distribution, augmentation of vaccine production and differential pricing of vaccines as well as future preparedness to deal with Covid. The next date of hearing is June 30.

Procurement

The amici submitted that foreign vaccine manufacturers are generally not receptive or open to a dialogue with State/UT Governments as a matter of corporate policy. Further, as per the Universal Immunisation Programme adopted by Indian government since 1978, essential vaccines are procured by Centre and distributed to State free of cost, and is a policy that has stood the test of time. The Liberalized Vaccination Policy adopted from May1 for the Phase III of vaccination leaves the State/UT Governments to fend for themselves, rather than the Central Government acting on behalf of the entire nation; thus, allowing manufacturers to adopt differential pricing. If the Centre were to be the single procurement agency for all vaccines at a fixed cost, then the cost of vaccination to the public exchequer would be substantially lower.

States/UTs that are financially distressed may not be able to afford to purchase the vaccines at the prices set by the vaccine manufacturers or to lift the quantity allocated to them;

Disbursement

The new policy puts an undue burden on persons between the age group of 18-44 years, specifically persons belonging to a weak socio-economic backgrounds. Although the State/UT Governments may have announced free vaccination for their population, some of them are contesting the Liberalized Vaccination Policy before this Court and have advanced submissions for universal vaccination by the Central Government.

The quota of 25% that is available to State/UT Governments, which is equivalent to the private hospitals, is extremely disproportionate and not in touch with societal realities, as a large number of persons may not be able to afford two doses of a vaccine from a private hospital. Thus, if State/UT Governments are to bear the burden of vaccinating a majority of the persons in their States/UTs, the quota available to the private hospitals must be reduced.

The policy also does not give any clarity on allotment of doses to States/UTs and the criterion for the same whether it will be on the basis of population; state of the pandemic in each State/UT; or the number of persons with co-morbidities between 18-44 years of age. The policy is also silent on who will make this allotment, the Centre or the manufacturer. The Centre has said it might redistribute the vaccines procured by it among State/UT Governments but on what basis this will take place has not been stated in the policy.

Constitutional responsibility

Although public health is a subject under Entry 6 of List II (State List) of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, Entry 81 of List I (Union List) deals with inter-State migration and inter-State quarantine and Entry 29 of List III (Concurrent List) deals with prevention of extension from one State to another of infectious or contagious diseases. Thus, the management of the pandemic, control of the spread of Covid-19, vaccination policy and pricing, are the responsibility of the Central Government, which must work in tandem with the State/UT Governments. The Liberalized Vaccination Policy thus conflicts with constitutional balance of responsibilities between the Centre and States/UTs

Vaccination target

The Centre has stated it will be able to fully vaccinate 100 crore persons by December, but no projections have been shared on how this target will be met. It appears that the Centre has factored a number of vaccines that are currently in their development stages to reach its projected number of 200 crore doses which is misguided as the success and efficacy of vaccines at trial stage cannot be guaranteed.

Vaccine production

Reports suggest that the current vaccine manufacturers, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech will be able to produce less than 10 crore doses per month and optimistically around 15-20 crores doses of Sputnik V will be available per month, which means it would take around 12 months to just vaccinate the population in the 18-44 age group which amounts to 59 crore people requiring 118 doses.

These issues/concerns were raised by the amici which have been recorded in the detailed order of the Supreme Court. These pertinent issues were considered by the court during the hearing and the court has sought additional affidavit from the Centre on procurement and its policy for ensuring equitable distribution of the vaccine across sections of society.

The complete judgment may be read here:

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Address the sense of defeat and anger amongst Kashmiris by opening up democratic spaces for people, said the Concerned Citizens’ Group (CCG) on April 15, 2021 after its eighth visit to the Valley.

Following a short visit to the region between March 30 and April 2, members Yashwant Sinha, Sushobha Barve, Wajahat Habibullah and others reported on Kashmir’s condition in their eighth report about Kashmir. In it, the CCG noted Kashmiris do not have a space to express their dissent or criticism of government policies or police action on any platform.

“Journalism has been virtually criminalised. No protests by civil society are allowed, nor are rallies by political parties permitted. The police do not hesitate to summon journalists and ordinary citizens and even lock them up under the Public Safety Act,” said the report.

An intellectual speaking to CCG members said that the population that felt no ill-will towards India is “non-existent” nowadays. People said they were wary of news coming in from Delhi. Members said they have never previously heard so many people expressing hatred of Delhi, and the Indian state as openly as during the last visit.

Following the Covid-19 pandemic and the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, the former state has been in a double lockdown. Locals believe that the pandemic that has not caused Kashmir-specific problems will eventually pass. Businesses are slowly recovering as the tourism industry revives, although small businesses still struggle to stay afloat.

However, Kashmiris still question the Modi-government’s move of altering the relationship between India and Jammu and Kashmir.

“Since August 2019 there have been changes in the administrative structure of the bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir. Old political parties are sought to be dismantled and the formation of new ones is being facilitated by Delhi. It is not clear whether Kashmir will resist the changes being imposed on it or accept them with resignation. The local political leadership is either silent or being forced into silence for fear of the Indian state,” said the report.

Moreover, locals expressed an overwhelming sense of despondency that there are no significant voices in India who can speak for them or offer resistance to what has happened to them. They also told CCG members that they felt powerless when considering the strength of those who brought about these changes in Jammu and Kashmir. Citizens also hesitated to speak about other major protests in the country such as the farmers’ agitation or the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests because they feel that their issues will get drowned in the larger ones encompassing India.

“We don’t have leaders just as India does not have leaders who have a well thought out critique of the RSS and the BJP and who can lead the people against their designs,” a Kashmiri public intellectual summed up the dilemma.

A business leader in the area also told CCG, Kashmiris were carefully watching communal tensions and conflagrations in mainland India such as the treatment of Muslims to understand their own plight. Beef-related lynching, cow politics and the so-called ‘Love Jihad’ laws, police violence on Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University campuses, anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests and the wanton use of NSA against protestors made Kashmiris cautious about Indian democracy.

To allay some of these concerns, the CCG recommended that civil society organisations be allowed to hold meetings, seminars, and discussions giving people a platform to vent their emotions and relieve the psychological pressure on them. It also suggested that the Indian government not impose artificial political processes on Kashmiris that are bereft of any democratic muscle. The CCG said national Opposition political parties should be able to visit Kashmir, move around freely and meet local political leaders and civil society actors.

The local political collective People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) already expressed difficulties in organising a full-fledged Secretariat and a multi-layered structure, both of which are necessary to strengthen its foundational objectives. At the district-level, the CCG observed that people were moved by PAGD’s resolve to protect the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

During District Development Councils (DDC) elections, people supported the collective. However, meeting with DDC Chairman Mohammed Afzal Parray at the Chowalgam Rest House in Kulgam on April 1 revealed that security personnel prevented Elected Councillors from meeting the public. They were all kept cooped up in a local hotel and repeatedly humiliated by officials for facilities like transport and security, which they were assured was to be provided by the Police Control Room (PCR). Meanwhile, the public, including Councillors, were expected to pay the full fee for electricity connections, although supply was uncertain and erratic.

“The DDC members could offer nothing to the youth, except the prospect of jail. Many stood arrested, amongst whom many remained untraced with Councillors given no assistance in tracing their whereabouts. All felt unsafe,” said Parray.

In response to this, the CCG demanded that DDC members be allowed to visit their constituencies and that the district bureaucracy be made accountable to the DDC. Further, the Delimitation Commission offices should be shifted to Jammu and Kashmir from Delhi so that people can easily access the place.

Moreover, the CCG observed that the government needs to pay special attention to the physical safety and economic well-being of Kashmir’s minorities, especially the non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits, Sikhs and Shias who have lived peacefully in the Valley for centuries. Kashmiri Pandits pointed out that although they were continuously ignored from government plans, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) repeatedly uses their plight as an election argument.

Other persisting issues such as ceasefire along the LOC, friction between non-Kashmiri security officers and local communities and drug addiction worsen the situation in the valley. Support for militancy grows as security forces continue to blow up houses where militants are suspected to take shelter, even during severe winters.

CCG members said that the Indian government should restore the earlier policy of restraint and preventing ‘collateral damage’ during counter-insurgency operations by security forces. However, despite such “balm to wound” suggestions, members observed that the Kashmiri youth hate India, having witnessed violent protests on streets for the past decade and brutal action by police and security forces.

“When they see no options, they are willing to take up the gun. Even if they do not have access to guns as of now, locals point out, they have militancy on their mind,” said the report.

Members also noted that many youngsters considered the Indian flag atop government buildings as a sign of provocation while parents preferred to send their child abroad rather than to other parts of India.

“To bring about peace and restore the identity and honour of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the central government would have to restore its statehood and start a dialogue for a fresh distribution of powers between the Centre and the State, keeping in mind the special history of the region’s accession to India,” concluded the report.

The entire report may be viewed here: 

Related:

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The ‘middle’ ground in Kashmir has been completely wiped out: Yashwant Sinha
In Kashmir, even ordinary citizens now speaking language of militants and separatists
Handling of electronic evidence by agencies a perversion of criminal justice: CCG

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Following Madhya Pradesh government’s silence over National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) recommendations for legal action against Bhopal Central jail authorities for alleged physical and mental torture of 28 prisoners allegedly from the banned outfit SIMI, the organisations demanded a response from Chief Secretary Iqbal Singh Bains within next six weeks, reported the Indian Express on April 13, 2021.

Two weeks after the NHRC’s letter, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) member Madhuri Krishnaswamy, Innocence Network’s human rights activists Wahid Shaikh and Fawaz Shaheen, and Coordination Committee for Indian Muslims member Masood Ahmed met Bains and Director General (Prisons) Arvind Kumar, to push for NHRC’s recommendations.

A three-member investigation team had written these recommendations after the NHRC conducted a spot inquiry to ascertain the veracity of the complaint made in May 2017, by Nazma Bi and nine other relatives of 21 undertrial prisoners. Victims’ kin alleged that they were subjected to constant torture after eight prisoners escaped in October 2016 and were subsequently killed in a police encounter the following day.

The team asked for legal action against jail authorities directly and indirectly involved in beating, torture, criminal intimidation and denial of basic human rights. The NHRC report also recommended action against the prison doctor Premendra Sharma, for failing to record injuries and the history of assault and torture incidents in prisoners’ medical tickets.

Further, the NHRC called for a high-level committee under a secretary rank officer to: address grievances of convicts; relax their solitary confinement to the extent possible, ensure adequate food, clothing, water, access to magazines, newspapers; ensure that prisoners are not forced to raise religious slogans.

Krishnaswamy pointed out that despite three years of waiting, the government remains reluctant to follow NHRC’s recommendations that only provide basic rights to convicts. In response, DG Kumar said the administration is “studying the jail administration’s response” and will respond to the letter in due time.

NHRC’s attention to the matter came after the DIG (Jails)’s claim in February 2021, that inmates were illegally demanding facilities such as uninterrupted movement in the campus, collective reading of namaz, individual newspapers. Seven inmates were on a hunger strike since September 2020 for these demands.

Meanwhile, family members like Haidar Hussain Nagori told the Indian Express how his brother Safdar Nagori was frisked 28 times at night and forced to chant “Jai Shree Ram” if he wanted food. Similarly, Kamaruddin Nagori’s brother talked about how his sibling lost 14 kg in the past 45 days. Further allegations claimed that prisoners are not given warm clothes even when sent from home. Farhad Khan’s brother, Arshad Khan claimed that the Holy Quran was frisked and checked twice a day and thrown on the ground. He further alleged that jail authorities tried to adopt ways to communally incite prisoners, who are subsequently beaten up.

The NHRC had detailed such events in its report but the City Central Jail’s SP denied all allegations. However, a later complaint by the Jamia teachers Solidarity Association stated that the torture intensified following the Commission’s visit.

The NHRC has asked the state government to probe the serious allegations and asked the Chief Secretary to submit an appropriate response.

Related:

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Why is Natasha Narwal not allowed to register for PhD semesters at JNU?

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There are three months to go before 2020 ends, and already over 450 cases of attacks on the Chrsitian minority community have been recorded by Persecution Relief, an organisation that provides support to persecuted Christians in India and records hate crimes against the community.

From August 2020 to October 2020, Persecution Relief recorded 157 cases of such hate crimes. Its quarterly report released today lists these crimes to include 4 murders, 46 attacks, 32 crimes against women, 43 false complaints against Christians, 45 cases of ‘collusion of authority’, 22 boycotts, 20 church attacks, and 21 unjust arrests. According to  Persecution Relief founder Shibu Thomas, these are just what they have records of, there may be many more cases that have gone unreported.

Uttar Pradesh is at the top of the three Indian states with most attacks on the community. In UP, stated the report, 27 allegations of anti-Christians attacks have been recorded by the organisation between July to September 2020. Chhattisgarh with 16 cases comes in second, while Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand share the third spot with 14 anti-Christians attacks. All this in the last three months!

As talks of an ‘Anti-Conversion law’ are doing the rounds, the organisation has written an Open Letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to prevent such a draconian law from being passed.

According to Thomas, Tribal and Dalit Christians are one of the most persecuted Christian groups in the country. The report details a recent case where 15 homes were destroyed and 11 Tribal Christian families were boycotted for their faith. “Although inexhaustive, as many cases of Christian persecution are not reported due to fear, these numbers conclude that two Christians are persecuted for their faith in India, everyday! This must not be taken lightly! The conspiracies against the Christian minority in India have now become innumerable and inconceivable. Be it the amendment of the Constitution, the New Education Policy, rumors of the National Anti-Conversion Law, discrimination of Dalit Christians, hate campaigns on social media, our authorities are leaving no stone unturned,” said Shibu Thomas in a statement that accompanied the report. Between January 2016 to August 2020, they recorded over 2100 cases of hate crimes against Christians in India. 

The report may be read here: 

Related: 

Conversions and anti-Christian violence in India
Dear Mark Zuckerberg, time to speak up against hate speech on Facebook
Anti-Christian hate crimes up 40.87 percent in India: Report
US slams India yet again on subject of religious freedom
They abused us, asked us to worship their idols: Christians attacked in UP
Environment of targeted hate and violence against Christians: Report

The post 157 attacks on christians in 3rd quarter of 2020: Persecution Relief appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The report was released by the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), an amalgam of research and advocacy organisations based in Srinagar, and the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), an advocacy seeking to end involuntary and enforced disappearances in Kashmir, in February 2019. Torture qualifies as a war crime as per the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Geneva Conventions.

The report, endorsed by former United Nations (UN) special rapporteur Juan E Mendez, accuses the Indian state of violating international human rights law by practicing torture against civilians, destroying property such as homes, and causing widespread psychological distress.

“For the worldwide struggle against torture, this report will constitute a landmark,” Mendez wrote. “It is to be hoped that it will be an example to other civil society organizations in India and in other countries, as a model for dispassionate and precise language, even when discussing tremendously tragic suffering.”

Jammu and Kashmir is considered among the most militarised regions in the world, indicative of an alarming human rights situation. JKCCS estimates that 650,000-750,000 Indian troops are present in the state; Ajai Shukla, a defence expert, contested those numbers in July 2018, estimating the number to be 470,000 instead.

Another 38,000 were deployed in early August 2019, bringing the presence between 700,000 and 800,000–more than one armed forces personnel per 15 civilians, as per JKCCS’s figures.

On August 29, 2019, the BBC reported that civilians in Kashmir had complained of being tortured by the Indian security forces since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.

The JKCCS report relates to the period between 1990 and 2017. Its release comes at a time when Union home minister Amit Shah, on August 28, 2019, suggested that the police do away with the age-old third-degree torture and adopt new, more scientific methods of investigation.

However, the report has received no coverage in the mainstream Indian media. The two largest newpapers in India, The Times of India in English and the Hindi Dainik Jagran, with a combined readership of nearly 90 million, have not covered the report to date, despite reporting on allegations of torture carried out by the Indian security forces and publishing more than 3,000 stories on Jammu and Kashmir this year, an IndiaSpend analysis has shown.

The home ministry, The Times of India, and Dainik Jagran did not respond to emails for comment sent on August 25 and 29, 2019. This story will be updated when they do.

Some experts view the report as indicative of a general disregard for Kashmiris’ human rights, particularly since Article 370 was removed. “Given what has happened since August 5 [the abrogation of Article 370], what rights? What humans? The way they’re being treated, the very idea of human rights for the people of Kashmir is an absurd farce,” said Nitasha Kaul, associate professor of politics and international relations, University of Westminster, London. She is of Kashmiri origin.

Others said the report must be seen in the perspective of the situation across India.

“I don’t think this [torture] is a special practice of the Indian state in Kashmir,” Manoj Joshi, distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think-tank, told IndiaSpend. “It is well known that torture is widely used by police forces across the country. Of course, it does not serve the interests of the Indian state. To the contrary, it negatively impacts it.”

Key findings
Among the report’s findings: 27 of the 432 cases studied (6.25%) made it to the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), of which 20 received favourable recommendations; in 2017, the state government accepted seven of the 44 compensation recommendations the commission made. The government has accepted 58 of the 229 recommendations (25%) made by the commission since 2009.

The report alleges that armed forces in Kashmir are responsible for the destruction of civilian property and life, alongside causing significant psychological distress due to the practice of torture.

Purposes
In 1993, Mohammad Shafi Hajam, a barber from Anantnag, was questioned by armed forces regarding the whereabouts of weapons, the report documents. Despite initially denying any knowledge, following extensive torture, he revealed the location to be a ditch near his shop. The next day, the army made all surrounding inhabitants including Hajam enter the ditch, filled with human refuse, to find the weapons. Upon not finding anything, an army officer slammed Hajam’s head onto a rock, causing him to lose a few teeth. He was subsequently taken back to the camp and continued to be tortured, the report added.

Based on the responses of each case, the report found three major reasons why people were tortured: as a punitive measure (50 victims, 12% of the total), a method to gain information, mainly about militants (118 victims, or 27%), and a means to elicit confessions (11 victims).

Some victims said they provided false information to their interrogators just for respite.

Methods

One of the victims documented by the report, from Anantnag, said he was doused in petrol and set on fire. Another, Bashir Ahmad, claimed that boiling water was poured on his back.

Torture methods documented in the report include physical brutalisation, waterboarding, sleep deprivation, starvation; and being forced to remain in uncomfortable positions such as aeroplane posture, burned, coerced to ingest contaminated substances and get in unhygienic contact with animals. All of these count as war crimes as per ICC rulings.

Some 326 of the 432 victims studied reported being beaten by sticks, rods and belts. Another 93 people claimed that they were physically brutalised, including the smashing of glass bottles on their faces. One person reported being kicked down a hill.

At least 80 victims had been tortured during cordon and search operations (CASOs), which have been globally condemned by groups such as Human Rights Watch (here) and Amnesty International (here).

Civilian victims
Nearly 70% or 301 of the total victims studied were civilians, of which 258 had no political affiliations. Twenty were political activists, six were students, three journalists, two human rights activists, and 12 associated with the Jamaat-e-Islami, a politico-religious activist group banned by the government in March 2019 for its “close touch” with militant outfits.

Civilians were mainly targeted for information regarding militants, or in response to militant activity in neighbouring areas, the report said.

Nearly 119 victims were militants (28%) and five were former militants (1%). Two members of the Jammu and Kashmir Police were found to have been tortured.

In the cases where militants were tortured, the report stated that most of the cases of arrest were not registered with the local police on the day of arrest. Doing so is a requirement under point six of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

In 32 cases, the report found that the families of the victims were targeted in addition to the victim. Article 3 of the Geneva Convention states that those “taking no active part in the hostilities” must be treated “humanely,” specifically prohibiting “violence to life and person” and “outrages upon personal dignity”. The principle is also mentioned in the ICC guidelines regarding war crimes.

Further, 27 of the 432 victims studied were minors, of which one was female. From a total of 1,086 juvenile detentions from September 2013 to April 2017, 623 (57%) were for pelting stones, the report found.

Lasting effects on victims
At least 222 victims of the total 432 (51.4%) reported health complications from being tortured–209 reported chronic health problems, frequent aches, fatigue and sexual impotency; 49 reported acute chronic ailments such as cardiac issues, nephrological problems, internal organ injuries and amputations. All 222 victims said they had been bearing the costs of healthcare by themselves, without any compensation or support.

Sixteen victims reported dislocated joints, in addition to 15 respondents who had suffered fractures. Three people had to undergo amputations after being tortured. One victim, Mohammad Qalandar Khatana, said that he was forced to eat the cut flesh of his buttocks, after which his legs were broken. He wasn’t provided with any medical assistance. While imprisoned, his legs got infected by maggots, following which they had to be amputated.

At least 49 (11.34%) victims died during or after torture, of which 40 died due to injuries sustained due to being tortured, such as ruptured lungs, and a perforated liver and intestines. Eight were shot dead after being tortured, whereas another one was poisoned.

Around 42 (18.9%) victims suffered from various psychological disorders after being tortured, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, insomnia, and dementia, according to the report.

Earlier, a mental health survey undertaken in December 2015 by Medecin Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) said that 19% of Kashmir’s population showed several symptoms of PTSD; 45% of the population, or 1.8 million adults, in the Kashmir Valley suffered from significant mental distress; 1.6 million or 41% exhibited symptoms of severe depression.

Victims often poor

Aside from the physical and mental impacts of torture, a significant facet of torture is its economic brutality, as the victims are often underprivileged, the report said. The wife of one victim, Din Mohammad, met the initial costs of her husband’s treatment by begging for money in 1999.

Many victims it documented were manual labourers, who were unable to resume their occupation due to the significant physical distress caused by torture, the report said. At least 31 victims reported an inability to perform any physically exhausting labour; almost all of them previously farmers or manual labourers.

At least 36 victims (8.3%) and their families lived in abject poverty because of the loss of livelihood or the death of the breadwinner of the family, the report said. Four families have subsequently died due to their dire situation.

Twenty five cases also involved the payment of bribes ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 2 lakh to various agencies to secure the release of their loved ones, or to protect families from relentless harassment.

Report ignored by mainstream Indian media
In February 2017, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) compiled a report stating the necessity to “control” the mosque, madrassa, print and TV media to enact effective “perception management”, The Indian Express reported. The report listed TV channels and newspapers as pro- and anti-India, recommending that the former be promoted while the latter “discouraged”.

The Indian Army’s doctrine on sub-conventional operations of 2006 notes that such operations are “essentially information campaigns”, emphasising the importance of the government, the security forces and the civilian population understanding the campaign in the “correct perspective”. This makes the role of the media critical.

The JKCCS report acknowledged that the primary challenge while researching torture is under-reporting, due to the reluctance of victims to reveal details, and the political hurdles faced by journalists. The Indian government has repeatedly withheld permission from several journalists who wished to work in Kashmir; Greater Kashmir reported on one such prominent instance in August 2019.

“The Indian government is interested in perception-management, not in actually finding a solution, because the dominant lens with which they see Kashmir is an Islamophobic one, and because their own idea of India is to capture the state and convert it into a Hindu nation, in line with the Hindutva ideology,” said Kaul.

“To call it a perception-management strategy is perhaps to overstate it, because the emperor has no clothes. The situation is clear to everyone globally, outside the hypernationalist Indian televisual bubble. India’s narrative has no ground to stand on anymore,” Kaul added.

As we said, despite the report on torture being the first ever comprehensive documentation on the subject, the dominant media in India have not covered it to date.

The Times of India, the largest English-language newspaper of the country with a readership of 15.2 million, despite publishing one story almost every two days on the state, did not cover the report. In 109 stories covering Jammu and Kashmir as listed on their website, over eight months between the start of 2019 and August 27, the word ‘torture’ was mentioned only four times. The word appeared four times in a single story, which covered the Indian Army denouncing allegations of torture and excesses committed by the Indian security forces by Shehla Rashid, member of the Jammu and Kashmir’s People’s Movement, as “baseless” and “unverified”.

Similarly, Dainik Jagran, the largest newspaper in India with a readership of 73.6 million, published 3,296 stories on Jammu and Kashmir from January 2019 to late August 2019–almost 14 stories per day, but did not cover the report released on torture. However, it also covered Shehla Rashid’s allegations, on August 19 and August 20, and the case filed against her for doing so.  

Coverage of Jammu and Kashmir, per se, spiked during August 2019, the month in which the abrogation of Article 370 was announced, for both these newspapers, our analysis shows.

“In all of this, the signs of optimism and prospects for peace is the humanity and resilience of the Kashmiri people. Prospects for peace can only come from millions of people who are going to read, think, know and understand what cannot and must not happen,” Kaul said.

No government action on previous reports
In June 2018, after protests erupted following the killing of Burhan Wani, a 22-year-old commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) terrorist outfit, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) at the United Nations released a report on the human rights situation in Kashmir for the first time.

The security forces had killed 130-145 civilians between July 2016 and March 2018, in addition to 16-20 killed by militant groups, the report noted. In a subsequent report published in July 2019, the UN body reported that the security forces had blinded 1,253 people with the use of metal pellets from mid-2016 to the end of 2018. The government had detained over 1,000 people between March 2016 and August 2017 under the Public Safety Act (PSA).

The OHCHR said it had asked India for access to Kashmir to monitor the human rights situation, but the government had unconditionally refused.

“India has not allowed international monitors since it views Kashmir as an internal issue,” Joshi said, adding, “Second, it would be embarrassed by the findings.”

Some 4,000 people have been detained in the state since the abrogation of Article 370, The Hindu reported on August 18, 2019. The Public Safety Act violates several clauses of international human rights law, an Amnesty International report of June 2019 showed.

“Where else do you have protestors being blinded by pellet guns, or an entire region being collectively punished by a siege? They [the Indian State] are doing it [blocking international monitors] because they can,” said Kaul.

Earlier, in 2016, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), a US-based human rights NGO that documents human rights violations around the world, reported that the Indian state had obstructed access to medical care for protestors, prevented medical officials from treating injured protestors, and intimidated doctors and patients at the hospital. Security forces had destroyed 200 ambulances in the same year, another JKCCS report had found.

Denying civilians access to humanitarian aid or attacking humanitarian workers is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and a war crime as per the guidelines of the International Criminal Court.

There existed at least 2,700 unknown, unmarked graves containing more than 2,943 bodies across 55 villages between November 2006 and November 2009, a report by the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir (IPTK) documented, including photographic evidence. In November 2017, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) reportedly ordered a DNA probe into 2,080 unmarked graves in the districts of Poonch and Rajouri, but no information is available on any follow up. 

(Mehta, a second-year undergraduate at the University of Chicago, is an intern at IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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This means that a single officer was transferred multiple times in two years. These states had the most transfers across India, said the report by Common Cause, a nonprofit.

Although the number of DIGs and SSPs prematurely transferred in 22 states across India reduced from 37% in 2007 to 13% in 2016, the report found a seeming “direct relationship between elections and transfers”, as transfers increased significantly during election years, hinting at substantial political interference.

The situation is not unique to these two states, however, as a 2018 report by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), a New Delhi-based human rights advocacy, showed. Of 36 states and union territories (UTs) across the country, none had fully complied with police reforms ordered by the Supreme Court (SC) in 2006 with the aim to curb political interference in the Indian police force and raise public accountability.

In 2006, following a petition by Prakash Singh, former director general of Uttar Pradesh (UP) Police and chief of the Border Security Force, the SC had ordered all states to implement six reform measures: to set up a State Security Commission (SSC) to lay down broad policy guidelines and directions for the state police to operate without political interference; mandate a minimum tenure for heads of police; separate the law and order-enforcement units from the investigation units, establish a police-run board to determine transfers and postings; and set up a complaints cell in every district to foster public trust in the police.

But in April 2018, the CHRI found that:
 

• No state/UT had fully implemented any of the six directives; 27 had tried to set up a State Security Commission but had omitted several important guidelines, and 17 had introduced the reform to separate law and order from investigation units. 
• Only one state (Nagaland) had introduced a minimum two-year tenure for its director general of police (DGP). But more states (six) had introduced this for their inspector general of police (IGP). These included: Odisha, Nagaland, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
• Although 27 states/UTs had introduced the police establishment board (PEB) to determine transfers and postings, and 24 had set up a police complaints cell to cultivate public trust, only one state each (Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh respectively) had fully followed the guidelines. 

Little has changed since the publication of the report in 2018, as the Common Cause report shows.

Across 22 states, 25% of SSPs and DIGs transferred between 2007 and 2016 were transferred in less than two years.

Transfers increased significantly during election years in several states, most notably in Rajasthan, where 98% of SSPs and DIGs were transferred in 2013. In Haryana, 32% were transferred in 2013, and in Jharkhand, 28% to 53% were transferred during all election years, the report says.

Even in states in which the incumbent party remained in power, transfers were more numerous than average. In Gujarat in 2012, an election year, transfers of DIGs and SSPs increased to 80.6%, up from 23.7% in 2008. In 2013, an election year for Chhattisgarh, transfers increased to 63.5% from 36% in 2012.

“The crux of this [police reforms] is that there is just no political will to bring in checks and balances–not much has changed since our report,” Devika Prasad, coordinator of the Police Reforms Programme at CHRI, told IndiaSpend. “The problem is that the executive sees it [police reforms] as a lessening of power. But that’s not the democratic way.”

The police must strike a balance between being the agency of law-enforcement as well as accountable to the wider public, the Common Cause report emphasised. And, as democratically elected representatives, the executive must monitor the overall functioning of the police, the CHRI report said, adding, however, that the police must be independent in its quotidian functions, especially relating to administration (promotions, transfers, postings, etc.) and law-enforcement (when/whom to investigate, arrest, search, etc.).

How states can protect police independence

The Model Police Act
Shortly after the SC judgement in 2006, the Model Police Act was drafted to help states incorporate the reforms as directed. By 2018, 11 states and Delhi were yet to implement a Police Act, the report said; their legislations had either not been drafted or had been drafted and tabled in the legislature without any progress.

“Only 17 states in India have passed police legislation, but they are yet to take the Model Police Act in full,” Prasad added. “They’re not bound to use the Model Police Act but they’ve taken short-cuts and what they’ve done is actually regressive, they’re moving backwards instead of forward.”

“The legislation is mainly to alleviate the executive’s powers of appointment,” Julio Ribeiro, former commissioner of police in Mumbai, told
IndiaSpend. “That’s the main problem. But the government has found many ways to get around this. In fact, politicians have strengthened their influence on the police. What I could do 30 years ago as commissioner, the present commissioner can’t do. I know of officers who left the force because they got sidelined. So, what’s the point?”

The Maharashtra governor approved the Maharashtra Police (Amendment) Bill in July 2014 in a hurried manner, despite significant concerns being expressed by former commissioners such as Julio Ribeiro and Satish Sawhney regarding its violation of the principles of police leadership and discipline. NGOs such as CHRI and Police Reforms Watch had also warned that the bill was undemocratic and had serious shortcomings.

State Security Commissions
About 42 years ago, in 1977, the Janata Party government had set up a National Police Commission (NPC) to study the contemporary requirements of the police force. In its report, the NPC had included the setting up of a State Security Commission to ensure that the government in power would not gratuitously interfere in police affairs.

In 2006, the SC ruled that this commission must include the leader of the opposition, independent members selected via an independent panel, a retired judge nominated by the chief justice of the respective high court, and publish an annual report.

However, as of August 2019, not a single state has fully complied with this directive though 27 have partially set up the commission, Prasad said.
For example, in six states–Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Punjab and Tripura–the commission does not include a state opposition leader. In three–Bihar, Karnataka and Punjab–no independent members are allowed. Further, 18 states do not allow for the independent selection of the commission’s independent members, while in 20 states the commission is not mandated to submit an annual report.

“The states implement it whenever it suits them, and wherever it doesn’t suit them, they do not. The crux [of the commission] is to depoliticise the police. But the government continues to exert its influence. The police has become the handmaiden of the party in power,” Ribeiro said.

Minimum two-year tenure for police chiefs
One state, Nagaland, fully complied with the second directive to ensure that the DGP, chosen by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) from a group of three senior offices, remains posted for a minimum tenure of two years. The DGP’s removal must be based on specific grounds, the SC ruling had mandated.

“Fixed tenure is good because it allows officers to develop and implement their vision,” M N Singh, former commissioner of Mumbai Police, told IndiaSpend. “Someone working only for six months is like a person getting on at a train station and getting off at the next. Abrupt transfers, postings and high-handed moves politicise the police and interfere with its functioning.”

But in attempting to implement this reform, several states had failed to follow some of the SC guidelines.

For example, 23 states, as of 2018, had omitted UPSC shortlists for the DGP’s appointment, placing all relevant authority in the state government’s hands, and 16 states had allowed vague grounds such as “in the public interest” or “on other administrative grounds” for the DGP’s removal.

This is liable to serve ulterior political purposes, CHRI observed.

In comparison, more states (six) had fully implemented the third directive mandating a minimum tenure of two years for the post of IGP with provisions for removal only based on specific grounds–Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.

Other states had partially sought to implement the reform. Of these, five provide a one-year tenure to officers of this rank. Meanwhile, 16 states had introduced “vague” grounds for the termination of an IGP’s appointment, which CHRI deemed non-compliant, namely Assam, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

Five states–Goa, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal–and Delhi and the union territories do not mention any basis for removal, placing the matter entirely at the discretion of state governments.

“Minimum tenure is good,” Ribeiro said, “but only if you appoint the correct people. It’s not beneficial if you appoint the wrong people,” he said, highlighting the need to eliminate political influence over appointments.

“The selection of officers by independent committees/commissions where leader of opposition is also a member will ensure postings based on merit rather than the selection of those aligned to the ruling party,” Meeran Borwankar, former director general of the Bureau of Police Research and Development, told IndiaSpend.

Separating law and order from investigations
While 17 states/UTs had made provisions for the separation of units for law and order enforcement and investigation, only Mizoram introduced legislation enabling investigation unit officers to specialise, work with job security, and work elsewhere with the DGP’s explicit permission. These states had special investigation units at police stations for certain offences or geographical areas.

“We should create specialised groups to investigate specialised crime such as trafficking, cyber-crime, etc. which not all police officers are equipped to deal with,” former commissioner Singh said. However, Singh warned against a complete division, saying it is neither feasible nor desirable. “It has been tried in Mumbai, but it hasn’t worked.”

Police Establishment Boards
In this directive, the state is supposed to set up a Police Establishment Board (PEB) comprising the DGP and four other officers, to decide and recommend all promotions, transfers and postings to the state government and to review police functioning. The SC had also envisioned this board to be a forum of appeal for officers above the rank of deputy superintendent of police who may bear grievances with their transfers or postings.

Although all states had followed the fifth directive by setting up PEBs on paper, 27 states remained non-compliant as they did not adhere to all the criteria of the directive. The PEB plays the role of an appeal forum in only 10 states, and reviews the function of the police in only six, the CHRI report said.

Arunachal Pradesh is the only state to have complied on all the criteria of the directive, the report said.

The threat of transfers or suspension was recognised as a primary tool of political interference in a National Police Commission report as far back as 1979.

Forty years later, in January 2019, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Kerala state government allegedly removed the deputy inspector general of police, Chaithra Teresa John, after she raided their office to find people accused of stone-pelting at a local police station, shifting her to the post of superintendent of police (women’s cell).

“This is why fixed tenure is important,” former commissioner Singh said. “It will prevent such removals and transfers.”

Nine in 10 police persons in Uttar Pradesh said they felt stressed due to political interference, a study in 2015 showed, while another study in 2014 found that job insecurity due to the risk of being “suspended at any time” is a major source of stress and results in many police officials seeking other jobs.

“Transfers, postings, training and discipline must be in the hands of the police chiefs, not the government–laws, formulation of the budget, development of infrastructure and so on, can come from the government,” Singh said. 

Police complaints cells
So far, only Andhra Pradesh has fully followed the sixth directive, setting up a Police Complaints Authority (PCA) at the state and district levels to address public complaints against police officers.

In 16 states, the independent recommendations of the PCA are subject to the review of the state government despite the SC order demanding otherwise.

Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, and Delhi are yet to set up any PCAs at any level, as per the report.

In July 2018, about 29% of Indians said they placed a lot of trust in a senior police officer, 23% placed this trust in a local police officer, and 16% in traffic police, according to a Common Cause-CSDS survey in 2018. In comparison, 54% Indians have high amounts of trust in the army, followed by the judiciary at 31%.

However, there are significant concerns regarding the implementation of the PCA.

“In Maharashtra, it [Police Complaints Authority] is a disaster. Basically, if you keep appointing people who are going to do your bidding, then you are implementing the reforms only in name, although the truth is you’re doing nothing of the sort,” Ribeiro said.

Reform from within
Singh recommended that the police also be made more accountable to the public, in addition to the legislature and judiciary. “The service provided to complainants would improve significantly if the police and the public directly interact,” he said.

Much can be done from within the police force, aside from the state government, Prasad said, “The police leadership can change things substantially.”

For a direct say in policing matters, Singh suggested that citizen committees be set up in each district to regularly meet with police officers and provide them with feedback. “For example, England already has a ‘neighbourhood watch’ system whereby public stakeholders and police can frequently be in close communication,” he said.

In fact, several reforms can be undertaken at the level of the police leadership, Singh pointed out. He cited the example of retired Indian police officer and civil servant Julio Ribeiro who served as Mumbai Police commissioner from 1982 to 1985. “To alleviate political interference, Ribeiro placed the decision of appointing station officers with the police leadership, guaranteeing the station officers a minimum tenure of two years, completely eliminating any politicians’ say–and he instituted this formally into the rules,” Singh said, adding, “Not all police reforms need to come from the government.”

However, present-day politics may make reforms at the leadership level unfeasible or meaningless, some experts said.

“In my days, such reforms at the leadership level were possible,” Ribeiro said. “Now, I feel sorry for the present incumbents because their hands are tied. Although there are many good officers wanting to better serve the public, politicians still have the last laugh.” Even to remove an officer who had many complaints against him, one of the members in the police leadership had to write to the government seeking permission, he recounted an incident.

Ribeiro said public pressure alone can force the government to ensure police reform. “The people have to pressure the government to ensure that they appoint the correct person who are going to look after their interests. This is what activists should go about doing–whip up public support against wrong appointments, because all political parties only bother when they are threatened with the prospect of losing votes,” he said.

(Mehta is an intern with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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