Inhuman & degrading treatment

AHRC TV: Supreme Court orders probe into Manipur killings and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 180

This week Just Asia begins with India, where the Supreme Court passed a historic judgment last Friday, ordering the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe into the allegations of ‘fake encounters’ by uniformed personnel in the conflict ridden state of Manipur. To ensure an impartial investigation, the Court ordered that no member of the Manipur […]

SRI LANKA: Arrest of another DIG indicates a serious crisis in the state’s machinery

DIG Lalith A Jayasinghe was arrested and is now being remanded for harbouring an offender and aiding the escape of the chief suspect Swiss Kumar, for the gang rape and the murder of 18 year old Sivaloganathan Vidya on 13 May 2015. The DIG is suspected of having committed an offence punishable under Section 209 […]

INDIA: Curious case of anti-farmer, anti-consumer, self-pricing tomatoes

Article | India | 14-07-2017

Avinash Pandey Looking at the pattern of tomato pricing in India, year after year, could lead one to believe that tomatoes are pricing themselves, evilly conspiring against the farmers producing them and the consumers buying them, helping only the intermediaries in the process. As of now, tomatoes are being sold for more than Rs. 80 […]

AHRC TV: Calls for resignation of Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif amidst corruption charges and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 179

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been found guilty of corruption by the Supreme Court’s Joint Investigation Team. The team found the Sharif family wealth to be beyond their sources of income. The country’s political parties and Bar Associations are now demanding Sharif’s resignation. Moving to Burma, the […]

PAKISTAN: Non-Muslims forced to do sanitary work

In an act of blatant discrimination against the Christian religious minority, and an infringement of Article 27 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has invited applications for the job of sewers from Non-Muslims only. Moreover, applicants are required to take an oath on their religious holy book – Geeta or Bible – […]

INDIA: Fact-Finding Report by MASUM on the Gorkhaland agitations

A Fact-finding report by MASUM forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) conducted a high level fact finding in Darjeeling and adjoining areas to assess the situation at Darjeeling hills after the agitation for separate statehood and the subsequent police atrocities upon the agitators. This report is only a primary […]

NEPAL: Government and police collude in rotten power play

Statement | Nepal | 04-07-2017

For the past several years, the Asian Human Rights Commission has been reporting on the widespread practice of abuse of power by the Nepal Police. The extent of abuse of power and politicization within the police today is such that even senior police officers are targeted. On 24 April 2017, a team of police officers […]

INDIA: “This ADGP is a butcher in police uniform” claims the State Police Chief

Statement | India | 03-07-2017

Referring to the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Mr. Tomin J. Thachankary, the former State Police Chief, Mr. Senkumar, has said that this officer is a butcher stationed at the state police headquarters. Allegations against Thachankary, one of the senior most officers in service in the state, is nothing new. The only difference this […]

SRI LANKA: Lakshan Dias Replies to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka

A letter by Lakshan Dias (Attorney at law) sent to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission 29.06.2017 Mr. Amal Randeniya Secretary to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Mihindu Mawatha Colombo -12 Dear Mr. Randeniya Thank you for your emailed letter dated 25th June 2017. As a preliminary […]

AHRC TV: Torture within the region in JUST ASIA, Episode 177

This week Just Asia focuses on the situation of torture in Asia, in commemoration of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Beginning with Pakistan, the UN Committee Against Torture has condemned the widespread practice of torture in the country and called on the government to enact urgent reforms. The government however, is […]

INDIA: What has been done to prevent criminals serving in the state police?

The State Police Chief in the Indian state of Kerala, has openly said that “there are more criminals in the state police service in the IPS cadre than within the constabulary.” State Police Chief, (SPC) Mr. Senkumar, in a speech delivered in a public function held at the state capital today (30 June 2017) has made this […]

INDIA: Weed out the rogues in uniform rather than trivialising rape

by Avinash Pandey ‘Why do armed women cut off a particular organ of Indian soldiers engaged in combating armed insurgencies across India, be it Punjab, Kashmir, Arunachal, Assam, Bengal or Jharkhand?’ asked senior opposition leader Azam Khan. The insinuation was unmistakable, and it had a basis: armed Maoists had indeed chopped off private parts of Central Reserve […]

SRI LANKA: The Sinhala Translation of the Report of the UN Special Rapporteur for the independence of Judges and Lawyers

READ FULL REPORT – HERE ලංකාවට අවශ්‍ය අධිකරණමය සංශෝධන එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මණ්ඩලයේ විනිශ්චයකාරවරුන්ගේ හා නීතිඥයන්ගේ ස්වාධීනත්වය පිලිබඳ සුවිශේෂ වර්තකාරිය වන මොනිකා පිටෝ විසින් ඇය ලංකාවට පැමිණි දුත ගමනින් පසු සකස්කොට නිකුත් කොට ඇති නිල වාර්තාව.  මහ ලේකම් කාර්යාලයේ සටහන 2016 අප්‍රේල් 29 සිට මැයි 7 වෙනි දින දක්වා ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුල කල දුත ගමනේදී සකස් කරනු ලැබූ විනිසුරුවරුන් හා නීතිඥයන්ගේ ස්වාධීන බව […]

SRI LANKA: Lawyers state that the Daily News Report on Lakshan Dias issue is false

A news item was published in the Daily News today under the title – Alleged attack on 160 Churches – BASL asks lawyer to come clean. In this news item, it refers to an order made on the basis of a decision at the Bar Council calling on Mr. Lakshan Dias, Attorney-at-Law, to explain the statement made by […]

PAKISTAN: Jails, breeding places and recruiting grounds for hard-core militants

With the collapse of the overall system of governance in Pakistan, the jail system followed suit and collapsed. As the last resort in the system of criminal justice, jails were meant to reform an individual who has gone astray and resorted to crime. Due to pervasive corruption and incompetence the prison system has been reduced […]

PAKISTAN: Human rights lawyers verbally and physically abused in court over case involving other lawyers

A Statement from Front Line Defenders forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission On 20 June 2017, human rights defenders Noor Ejaz Chaudhry, Usama Malik and Shabir Hussain were abused and beaten by a large group of lawyers in the courtroom of the Lahore High Court. The three lawyers are part of the defenceteam led by […]

PAKISTAN: Government before UN committee reluctant to make law against torture

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on the occasion of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture The government of Pakistan has stated before the UN Committee on the Convention against Torture (CAT) that it does not intend to set-up legislation against torture and ill-treatment. On May 13, 2017 during the UN review, […]

AHRC TV: Hong Kong to withdraw from UN Convention against Torture in JUST ASIA, Episode 176

This week, to mark the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, celebrated annually on June 26, Just Asia has a special report on Hong Kong’s plan to withdraw from the UN Convention against Torture. The reason for such a withdrawal is a misguided attempt to address the rise in torture protection claimants in […]

NEPAL: Police continue using torture as the only resort in the year 2017

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on the occasion of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture ‘“As a last resort,” wrote a Nepalese Inspector, “torture is practical and necessary.”’ This was reported 43 years ago in certain newspapers in the United States, in articles titled “Chilling views on torture tactics” […]

PAKISTAN: The AHRC thanks the Prime Minister of Belgium for saving the life Sajid Hussain

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to sincerely thank the Prime Minister of Belgium M Charles Yves Jean Ghislaine Michel and his administration for taking serious note of the Urgent Appeal issued by the Asian Human Rights Commission AHRC- UAC-033-2017 and taking prompt action with regard to the immediate suspension of the deportation process of Kashmiri […]