Dear Ms. Arbour,
Re: India – Constitutional promises and international obligations remain empty rhetoric
The systemic failure of the justice dispensation system in India is marring the state of human rights in India. 58 years since independence, India is plummeting further into lawlessness and a complete collapse of the rule of law. Challenging violations of basic rights remains inaccessible to the ordinary people of the country, and is becoming ever more so.
The failure in justice dispensation mechanisms has meant that avenues to domestic remedies are effectively closed to millions of ordinary persons. This is enabled by the following factors: fear of reprisals, a lack of protection mechanisms, enormous delays in justice procedures, extreme difficulty in obtaining proper legal assistance, taboos emanating from caste discrimination, and ineffective laws and improper implementation thereof. The Government of India has failed to ratify many of the international conventions and covenants, or has opted out from essential provisions, so as to block victims’ access to international complaints and remedies mechanisms, such as that of the Human Rights Committee. There is a complete collapse of the rule of law in India.
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has documented numerous cases in India, which establish a consistent and widespread pattern of denial of rights. Of particular concern are cases of: custodial torture and related impunity by the police and security forces; complete inaccessibility to domestic mechanisms; enormous delays in judicial procedures; and caste based discrimination. AHRC has highlighted these issues as part of a special report published on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2005.
Coupled with draconian laws in the name of fight against insurgent activities, brutal forms of torture were reported in India in 2005. The Government of India has consistently refused to acknowledge the fact that the rule of law in India has completely collapsed. It has shut its doors to any who sought accountability, either by way of domestic procedures or by way of international assistance. The long pending report to the UN Human Rights Committee, which has been due since 2001. The Government has also denied the request of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture to visit the country. The request has been pending since 1997.
Torture is not only practiced as a crude form of investigation, but is also used to impart fear upon citizens so as to cater the rich and the influential. Torture in India is widespread, unaccounted for and rarely prosecuted. Lack of investigative skills, the absence of equipment and training for modern investigative procedures – particularly relating to autopsy procedures – and the resultant absolute impunity enjoyed by the law enforcing agents are the trademarks of the law enforcement agencies in India. This has also lead to a completely unchallenged state of corruption within the agencies, where justice is auctioned as a commodity in public.
A decade of waiting for decisions on a case is not much time in India. The delays are equally applicable to civil and criminal proceedings. The courts in India are crowded, inefficient and dangerously slow in providing justice to the people. This is even applicable to the High Courts and the Supreme Court. On 4 December 2005 the Chief Justice of India himself stated that there are a minimum of 2.6 million cases pending before various courts in India. The people no longer have any trust in domestic legal mechanisms in India, particularly the poor in the country and the members of the lower caste in the prejudicial caste hierarchy.
The brunt of this complete collapse of the rule of law in India has most affected the dalits and the lower castes in India. Deaths from acute starvation and cases of extreme malnutrition are not only reported from remote areas but also from the cities. Cases of starvation deaths reported from Howrah in West Bengal and Mumbai in Maharastra are two examples. It is an irony that India is rich and self-sufficient in food and is engaged in yearly dumping of grain, which it finds difficult to stock in its granaries, while people within the country die of acute starvation perpetuated by collapsed systems. Discriminatory attitudes in providing assistance are practised all over the country. The case of tribal community from the state of Gujarat and the ‘untouchables’ from Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh state are examples.
Yet another international day for human rights may not mean much to the ordinary Indian. Many might not even be aware of this day. India’s Constitutional promises and international obligations remain empty rhetoric. Judgements made by courts and orders for implementation are unheeded. International intervention and pressure is completely absent. In spite of this, the Government of India is looking forward to a permanent position on the UN Security Council. When the state itself has failed to deliver to its citizens the basic minimum guarantee of respect, protection and fulfilment of rights, how can it justify its claims to be offered a permanent membership in an international body where human rights is of prime importance? Thank you for the attention you will give these issues.
Yours sincerely,
Basil Fernando
Executive Director
Link to the India report: http://www.ahrchk.net/hrday2005/pdf/HRDay-India.pdf
Link to AHRC’s 2005 International Human Rights Day page: http://www.ahrchk.net/hrday2005/
Link to AHRC’s Human Rights Day Message: http://www.ahrchk.net/hrday2005/05message.htm
