Rule of law

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Civil Society Women’s Organization (CSWO), an anti-corruption and women’s rights organization based in Shillong, Meghalaya regarding the custodial death of an 18-year-old youth Mr. Balsan S. Marak. Balsan was arrested under dubious circumstances on charges of kidnapping and torture of women on 13 […]

Series of deaths of persons in police custody as suspects regarding the commission of criminal offences is of serious concern. The identical explanations given by the police regarding each such case of death while in custody and acceptance of such blatant manifest untruths has made a mockery of the system of administration of justice in […]

A 17-year-old boy named, P.H. Sadun Mallinga, from Atturukudua, Megahakiula, was arrested with his brother and brutally assaulted by a group of policemen from the Kandaketiya police without any reason. He died at the remand prison due to the severe injuries he suffered by the assault. He died in his brother’s arms. Now the brother […]

Today the AHRC releases the 28th Episode of the Human Rights Asia Weekly Roundup. In this week’s programmewe report on encouraging new legislation in Sindh Province in Pakistan, banning child marriage under 18-years of age. We show disturbing footage of police torture in Jammu and Kashmir with a report of India’s “gangsters in uniform”. Also in India, […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 65-year-old Ahmadi was shot dead in a police lockup. The victim was arrested on charges of Blasphemy without legal process. He remained in the police lock up for three days without being produced in a court of law. On May 16, the […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Women in Governance (WinG-Assam), a network of women human rights defenders in Assam, about the custodial torture of a youth, Mr. Siddharth Kaushik Dutta in Jorhat Sadar police station, Jorhat, Assam. According to the information received, Mr. Rishikesh Hazarika, Officer in Charge (OC) […]

Torture of detainees must end Center for Human Rights and Research (CHR) and Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) strongly condemn the assault, arrest and the alleged torture on the Allied Health Sciences students by Slave Island police and hopes that the judicial system will do justice to the arrested students. 18 students were […]

‘Lawyers for Democracy’ condemns the brutal attack on university students for demonstrating and the subsequent assault and torture at the Slave Island police station causing physical injury to some of the students. We reiterate the fundamental rights of students to protest or demonstrate in a peaceful manner. We deplore the actions of the police in […]

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an application in a CBI Special Court seeking approval for criminal charges to be framed against the Director General of Police, Mr. Sumedh Singh Saini, of the Punjab state police. The accusation against Saini relates to his conduct of defence in a criminal case in which Saini […]

(Courtesy, Sunday Island of 11th May and 18th May 2014) What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind. You might cynically apply this old aphorism to the judicial mind and judicial matters in Sri Lanka. Increasingly, the grey matter of intelligence, erudition, wisdom and independence is becoming too scarce in Sri Lanka’s judicial mind, and […]

A Reflection on religious freedom with justice Puzzling Decisions and worrying trends The recent government decision to appoint a special police unit to deal with inter-religious conflict adds to the prevailing confusion on the freedom of religion and the rule of law. While the decision implies seriousness in arrestingthe current religious tensions, the government’s reluctance […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) congratulates the people of India and the Election Commission for successfully concluding a free and fair national election. This election has shown once again that the people of India value their ballot and are capable of changing governments through democratic and peaceful means.The task now falls upon the political […]

(Note: this article was first published in the May 4, 2014 issue of the Sunday Examiner) I am a Filipino but I see myself a Hong Konger. If we are to take the guidelines of Hong Kong Unison, a non-profit organisation advocating for the protection of the rights of ethnic minorities, a Hong Konger is any person […]

Human rights defenders are continually being made targets of abduction in Bangladesh, actions that are symptomatic of a kind of insanity. Yesterday (May 15,2014 ), Mr. Md. Nur Khan (Liton), a prominent human rights defender narrowly escaped being abducted. A group of men in plain clothes attempted to abduct Mr. Nur, who works as Director […]

The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, interpreted the much talked about blasphemy law in a timely and appropriate manner. He made an observation in a sou moto case of the desecration of places of religion belonging to the minorities, that there should be thorough and impartial investigations into complaints of blasphemy so that […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expresses its concern over the recently passed Truth and Reconciliation Law in Nepal. The law violates international standards, the Supreme Court verdict of January 2, 2014, and also the Interim Constitution and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of Nepal itself. The last time the government came up with the […]

The citizens of Pakistan watched a video recording of a police encounter on all the television channels where a man who had been pronounced dead started crying and screaming that he was alive. The police ignored his cries for help and dragged him by the hair into a police van. He was taken to a […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Nervazhi – a human rights organization based in Kerala, concerning the custodial death of a young woman aged 23 years. It is reported that the police took the victim in the case, Ms. Hanisha, into illegal custody on 23rd March 2014. The police […]

The killing of senior lawyer, Rashid Rehman, on May 7, 2014 in his office in Multan has once again brought into focus at home and abroad how little the Pakistani state values those who risk their lives for the promotion and protection of fundamental rights for all. Rehman was killed despite having earlier expressed serious […]

The attempted murder of an anchorperson of a popular media house triggered the open discussion on the role of the ISI in dealing with the freedom of expression and the media as a whole. Indeed, this is not the first occasion that the role of the ISI was brought up as a conspirator in the […]