London, October 14: The world human rights, Amnesty International (AI) has said that nothing much appeared to have changed in Kashmir as the authorities continued to use the black law, Public Safety Act (PSA), to facilitate a range of rights-violating behaviour.
The administration in Kashmir for continuing to use the draconian law, Public Safety Act (PSA), to detain people without charge or trial in violation of their human rights and demanded its repeal. It deplored that the authorities often kept persons in detention even after the detentions had been quashed by the High Court in Kashmir.
Ananth Guruswamy, Director Amnesty International India, in a statement demanded repeal of the PSA terming its against the international human rights law.
The Amnesty in a statement issued in New Delhi while terming the PSA, under which police can arrest any suspect and keep him/her in jail for two years without trial, as a “lawless law”, demanded that all PSA detainees must be fairly tried in a court of law or else released.
“In 2011, Amnesty International released a report documenting how the PSA violates human rights. Not much appears to have changed in 2012. The PSA provides for arbitrary detention, in violation of the right to liberty, which India is bound to respect under international human rights treaties,” it added.
Ananth Guruswamy, Director Amnesty International India, in a statement said that the authorities in the occupied territory continued to use the PSA to circumvent the rule of law and the criminal justice system. “They resort to PSA detentions instead of charging and trying persons suspected of offences in court,” he said, demanding that the Public Safety Act was against the international human rights law and must be repealed.
In 2011 the Amnesty had termed the PSA a ‘lawless law’. “In 2012, this assessment continues to hold true. Despite seemingly positive political and legal developments in recent months, the PSA and its implementation in Jammu and Kashmir continue to violate India’s obligations under international human rights law,” stated the report.
According to the report, the rights violations due to the applicability of PSA included unlawful deprivations of liberty through the practice of ‘revolving door detentions’, detention of children, torture and other ill treatment, the denial of medical care while in detention, and a limited realization of the right to reparations.
In a press statement Ananth Guruswamy, Director, Amnesty International India said, “The J&K authorities continue to use the PSA to circumvent the rule of law and the criminal justice system. They resort to PSA detentions instead of charging and trying persons suspected of offences in the court.”
“J&K authorities often keep persons in detention even after the detentions have been quashed by the High Court. The PSA violates international human rights law and must be repealed,” Guruswamy said. “All PSA detainees must be charged and prosecuted through a fair trial in a court of law or else released,” he added.
The report maintained that the detainees included political leaders and activists, suspected members or supporters of armed opposition groups, lawyers, journalists and protesters, including children.
The rights body is not satisfied with the amendments made in the PSA by the authorities saying these are far from adequate in their present form. “Several provisions in the PSA still do not comply with India’s international law obligations. Notably, the amendments do not even go as far as the recommendations made by the Interlocutors in their report,” it added.
The report also mentioned that children were still being detained under PSA by falsely registering their ages. “During our visits in April and July 2012, we found that in at least three cases authorities had detained children by falsely recording their age as being above 18,” the report stated
It said that a detention order was issued against 15-year-old Umar Farooq Sheikh, of Srinagar, on 29th March 2012. “The 2012 amendments clearly disallow the detention of children, and it is too early now to evaluate the full impact of the amendments. However, if the authorities continue to detain children by falsely registering their ages as above 18, this practice may not be eradicated by the amendments alone,” the report maintained.
The rights group has made number of recommendations in its detailed report. “AI reiterates its call on the Government of Jammu and Kashmir to repeal the PSA and any other legislation facilitating the use of administrative detentions,” the report said.
The report also called for implementing court rulings ordering release of detainees without delay and unconditional release of all detainees deprived of liberty solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights of freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion or expression.
The Amnesty demanded: Ending immediately the use of incommunicado detention; ensuring officers carrying out the initial arrest inform the families of the place where the detainee would be held; end the practice of repeatedly detaining persons under multiple detention orders on similar grounds; ensuring all detainees are brought before a judicial magistrate within 24 hours of arrest; ensuring that detainees have access to their families, legal counsel and independent medical professionals without delay and regularly thereafter, and monitor the quality of medical reporting; ensuring that the families of those detained are informed of subsequent transfers to other places of detention, without delay; maintaining a centralized register of all detainees available for public access, detailing the date of order or arrest and detention, authority issuing such orders and all transfer, release and revocation orders.
The rights group also urged Indian government and the puppet administration of the occupied territory to carry out an independent, impartial and comprehensive investigation into all allegations of abuses against detainees.
It also urged them to take all appropriate criminal or administrative measures against officials who fail to comply with safeguards against human rights abuses.
Pertinently, the report is compiled on the research conducted by AI during its two visits to occupied Kashmir in April and July 2012. This included trips to Srinagar, Islamabad, Pulwama, Kupwara and Baramulla.
The delegates of the group analysed 110 PSA detention orders and conducted interviews with nine families where a family member had been detained under the PSA. They also interviewed members of the police, representatives of the Kashmir High Court Bar Association and the Human Rights Commission of the territory, media persons, lawyers and civil society organizations.
The Amnesty said that the UN officials who visited the Kashmir valley had recommended that the PSA be repealed.