Police violence

NEPAL: Police torture man in public

Dear Friends, The Terai Human Rights Defenders Alliance (THRDA) has informed the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that two police officers attached with Area Police Office Semari Nawalparasi District tortured Tejman Prasad Chaudhary (54), resident of Ward number 3, Jamuniya village development committee (VDC) Nawalparasi district, in public and kept him under illegal detention. This […]

AHRC TV: UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Speaks with JUST ASIA, Episode 123

This week Just Asia begins with highlights from an exclusive interview with UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Professor Juan E. Mendez. Speaking to the editor of Torture Magazine, Nilantha Ilangamuwa, Mr. Mendez shares his views on various issues, including his most recent visit to Sri Lanka. […]

INDIA: Police reforms must be priority for new governments

Statement | India | 19-05-2016

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) congratulates all the candidates who have secured a victory in the elections to the State Legislative Assemblies that have concluded in the four states and a union territory of India, i.e. in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Puducherry. Elections were largely held in a peaceful manner, and […]

INDIA: Young man shot dead by a Border Security Force personnel in West Bengal

Dear Friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward an appeal from our partner organization MASUM in West Bengal. The appeal alleges that a young man was shot dead by Border Security Force personnel while he was trying to smuggle cattle across the border to Bangladesh.  For more information, please contact: Kirity Roy, […]

NEPAL: Police torture Dalit woman

Dear Friends, The Terai Human Rights Defenders Alliance (THRDA) has informed the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that police officers attached with Area Police Office Chapiya of Rupandehi District kept Kisalawati Harijan (37), resident of Manpakadi Village Development Committee (VDC) under illegal detention on 3 May 2016, and tortured her for an hour. The police […]

PAKISTAN: Transgender activists continue to face police abuse and discrimination

Discrimination and abuse from police and government officials continues to be faced by transgender rights defenders. Furthermore, many activists have been abducted, beaten, and raped for raising their voice against the atrocities meted out to them. Pakistani society by and large ostracises persons of transgender. Being social outcastes and shunned by their families, many transgender […]

INDIA: The Elephant in the Room: The brutal rape and murder case in Kerala and the need for police reform

An article by Bijo Francis and Urmila Pullat The press has reported on three rapes in Kerala in the last month. The one that everyone is talking about is the brutal rape and murder on April 28 of the Dalit law student, whose dismembered body was found by her mother in their home. The ones not discussed […]

PHILIPPINES: Police officers arbitrarily shoot victim

Dear Friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that a man was killed in Surigao del Norte. The victim was shot by the police in front of his wife and children when they came to serve an arrest warrant to him.  CASE DETAILS: (Based on the documentation by the Asian […]

PAKISTAN: Deafening silence on the rape of Hindu girls

In this month five-year-old Hindu girl, Shazia Bheel, was murdered by Zahid Sheikh, a man who was dressed as a woman when he raped and murdered the child in Hyderabad. An FIR (# 22/2016), was lodged for murder and rape against the culprit on the compliant of the father of the deceased child. Women and […]

SRI LANKA: Letter to the HRC-SL; Request for special action regarding Ms M K Malani– tortured, sexually abused and incarcerated under fabricated charges by Nawalapitiya Police

Dr. Deepika Udagama Chairman, National Human Rights Commission Head Office,  No. 165 Kynsey Road,  Borella, Colombo 08 Sri Lanka Dear Dr. Deepika Udagama, Request for special action regarding Ms M K Malani, presently being held at the Dumbara-Bogambara Prison – tortured, sexually abused and incarcerated under fabricated charges by Nawalapitiya Police The Asian Human Rights […]

THAILAND: Drop charges against pro-democracy activist mother

Ms. Patnaree Chankij, a 40-year-old single mother of four children, including anti-junta student activist Mr. Sirawit, aka, ‘Ja New’, has been charged with defaming the monarchy. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deems Ms. Patnaree’s arrest a new low in the junta-ruled country. Mr. Sirawit is a Thammasat student activist who has been actively involved […]

NEPAL: Police torture youths and parade them in the market

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to inform you that three police officers attached to Area Police Office Surkhet District have tortured two youth, aged 15 and 19. Following the torture, the policemen garlanded the young man and the juvenile with shoes and slippers and paraded them in the market. After […]

SRI LANKA – The new AG and IGP – Tasked to revitalise the dying system

Now, there is a new Attorney General and a new Inspector General of Police. Whatever be the disputes about the manner in which their appointments were made, they are now the operators of two of the most vital systems of the state apparatus in Sri Lanka, the Attorney General’s Department and the police service. That […]

INDIA: The Indian State and Its Counter-Productive Counter-Terrorism

Torture is inhumane and ineffective, and its continued use as part of investigations in India needs to be re-examined. In this photo, reviewed by a Defense Department official, a Guantanamo detainee’s feet are shackled to the floor as he attends a “Life Skills” class inside the Camp 6 high-security detention facility at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, […]

PAKISTAN: Labour Day meaningless for country’s working class

Labour Day in Pakistan is oxymoronic, because the day is just another holiday for the nation’s better off population, while the labour class toils under the blazing sun. Perhaps on no other day does the class difference between the haves and have nots manifest itself as clearly as it does on this day. Throughout the […]

NEPAL: Nepali journalist arrested for ‘personal vendetta’

Statement | Nepal | 28-04-2016

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly objects to the arrest of Nepali journalist and civil society leader Kanak Mani Dixit on corruption charges. He has been arrested on the orders of the country’s anti-corruption body, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), on 22 April 2016. According to the CIAA’s press release […]

SRI LANKA: A TV Interview with Basil Fernando regarding the appointment of public officials in Sri Lanka

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward an interview by Mr. Basil Fernando, Director – Policies & Programmes of the AHRC in Sirasa TV, News 1st, Live on 26th April 2016. In the interview Mr. Fernando speaks on the modalities of appointments to the public services including the police service, the Attorney General’s Department, […]

SRI LANKA:Kondaya, Raised to the Status of Mysterious Criminal

The name Kondaya is now a household name, following the tragic Sadewmi case, the abduction, rape and murder of a little girl of around 4 years. Discovery of the dead body led to an uproar not only in her village and the neighbouring villages but throughoutthecountry. There was a demand for immediate inquiries and for prosecution and […]

PAKISTAN: Safe Haven for Rapists in Uniform

Pakistani women, be they young or old, or even dead or alive, suffer rape by perverted elements that use rape as a tool to suppress and oppress half of the country’s population. One cannot fathom the moral bankruptcy of a society where a rape occurs every two hours. Going by the statistics, each day 12 […]

AHRC TV: JUST ASIA, Episode 118

This episode of Just Asia begins with Indonesia, where a public protest called for the dissolution of Indonesia’s Anti-Terror Police Unit. The protest followed the death of Mr. Siyono, one day after being arrested by the Police Unit on March 10. Although the police claimed Siyono died from fighting police personnel, an independent autopsy revealed […]