Statement

There was a period in the past when many rights including fair trial and the freedom of opinion and expression was heavily restricted by both authoritarian and military dictatorship governments. Those who attempted to enjoy such freedoms suffered from long periods of imprisonment in comparison with general criminal offences or even the death penalty. Constraints […]

Once again, the country’s judiciary has underlined the fact that there is something fundamentally wrong with the police in India. On 7 November, the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court, Justice Vikramajit Sen, while hearing a case said, “I never understand why the police always take the side of villains. Whether it is Haryana or Karnataka, […]

Yesterday (9th of October), at least 11 prisoners were gunned down and around 35 were injured by the STF. The shooting was carried out when the STF entered the Welikada prison for some inspections. (Photo Courtesy: Sunday Times, Sri Lanka) According to an eye witness, interviewed by the BBC Sinhala service, when some prisoners who […]

In yet another shocking revelation, private companies have been found to be engaged in stealing food earmarked for welfare schemes aimed at arresting malnutrition, the biggest ‘national shame’ according to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and ‘humiliation like none other’ according to President Pranab Mukherjee. The only thing that is more shocking than the revelation […]

Much has been made in recent times of the continued use in Burma of antiquated and anti-human rights laws from the country’s decades of military rule, as well as from the colonial era. While legislators discuss the amendment or revocation of some laws, and the issue is debated in the public domain, much less is […]

For the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Pakistan, the country presented a four-year working report of how the government improved the state of human rights in Pakistan. Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, the foreign minister leading the Pakistan delegation, presented the report to the UN. The UPR is a process in which the UN […]

Under the present circumstances and under the 1978 constitution, when the president does not want the Chief Justice, the president just tells them to get out and go home. The way he does it is called impeachment proceedings. Once the president decides to file such proceedings – he has a two thirds majority in parliament […]

Mr. Ashok Kumar Bishwas, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Jhalokathi District, has reportedly offered a proposal to the family of college student Limon Hossain, who, courtesy the point blank shooting by Rapid Actions Battalion (RAB) personnel, is a disabled man today. According to a report, published by the Prothom Alo, a vernacular national daily, the DC has […]

  The statement by Mr. L. K. Advani, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that the country’s global image is at an all-time low is partially correct. It is reflected in manifold forms, including in the treatment Indians receive when they present their passport at the immigration counters in foreign nations and in […]

After a series of attacks on the judiciary the Mahinda Rajapaksa government is now reported to be engaged in preparing papers for the impeachment of the Chief Justice (CJ). While the accusation against the CJ is not known the determination of the government to impeach her has been highly publicised. The state media have been […]

The cabinet reshuffle in India has concluded. New Delhi has witnessed the usual exit and entry of old and new faces. While speculating, reporting and allegedly analysing the event, the Indian media liberally used words like “new blood”, “team Manmohan” and “fresh faces.” These terms wrongly suggested that something new is introduced into an alleged […]

The Mahinda Rajapaksa regime has resorted to the ugliest attack in Sri Lankan judicial history on the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice this week by using the state media as a slander machine and through employing the state media to introduce deliberately manufactured slanderous letters to the parliament solely with the purpose of abusing […]

Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government is now engaged in a ruthless attack on the Chief Justice, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and the independence of the judiciary in general. The immediate reason for the attacks is the Supreme Court decision against the Divineguma Bill and the JSC decision to take disciplinary action against a judicial officer alleged […]

The youth of Pakistan have found a new leader to follow, one that has inspired, not on the youth of the country but the adults as well The Malala incident in Pakistan has given a powerful voice to the people to come out bravely against Muslim extremism. The breaking of the silence in Pakistan was […]

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission and Odhikar The investigation into the attack upon minorities, its process and outcome, and subsequent handling of the event by the Government Bangladesh is highly questionable. The incident in question is the arson of properties of the minority communities, particularly of the Buddhists and Hindus in Cox’s […]

If a police officer decides to make money illegally, what would the officer do? There are many ways the officer could think of, including but not limited to, seeking bribes, illegally registering and compromising cases, or collecting protection money from people and businesses. In all of this, irrespective of the mode, the officer is selling […]

Five persons including four senior journalists of the Daily Amar Desh, a national newspaper, are under imminent threat of detention and subsequent torture by the state agents. The country’s police fabricated a criminal case (No. 2) against four senior journalists namely Assistant Editor Mr. Sanjib Chowdhury, Crime Reporter Mr. Alauddin Arif, Chief Editor Mr. Seyed […]

The Supreme Court (SC) today ordered the government to take legal action against former army chief General Aslam Beg and the former director general of the Inter Intelligence Service (ISI) Lt-Gen (retired) Asad Durrani for distributing money during the elections of 1990 among some politicians in order to rig the elections. A three-judge bench comprising […]

This week and the last one have witnessed an overflowing of violence in India. It manifested in manifold shapes, colours, and intensity: permeating right from the gory incidents of rapes reported in the media to the sensational allegations of corruptions against the most powerful players in the country, the shameless circus-dog denials of political leadership, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is shocked to learn that a regional police commander in Thailand has recently given a substantial financial gift to five police officers convicted of murdering a teenager, Kiettisak Thitboonkrong, during the 2004 “war on drugs”. On 25 September 2012, Pol. Lt. Gen. Sompong Khongpetchsak, the Police Region 4 commander, presented […]