New Delhi, December 08: In New Delhi, human rights campaigners have submitted a report on India's bleak human rights record of arbitrary arrests and extra-judicial killings to the United Nations. The report has been compiled by a national coalition of human rights organisations and independent experts.
The spokesperson for the WGHR, Miloon Kothari and its member Vrinda Grover, addressing a news conference in New Delhi said the last four years had seen a marked increase in the use of draconian laws in Jammu and Kashmir. The report talked about the discovery of 2700 unmarked graves in Kashmir, this year.
The report - “Human Rights in India: An Overview” - was compiled by the Working Group on Human Rights in India and the UN (WGHR), a national coalition of human rights organisations and independent experts.
WGHR member Vrinda Grover said the last four years had seen a marked increase in the use of draconian laws in Jammu and Kashmir.
India’s list of human right violations include arbitrary arrests and extra-judicial killings by Indian forces in Kashmir and disturbance-hit areas.
The report “Human Rights in India: An Overview” was compiled by the Working Group on Human Rights in India and the UN (WGHR), a national coalition of human rights organisations and independent experts.
“The report presents a very bleak scenario of the actual state of human rights across India,” the WGHR's Miloon Kothari said at a news conference in New Delhi. WGHR member Vrinda Grover said the last four years had seen a marked increase in the use of draconian laws in areas like Jammu and Kashmir.
“In all these areas, violations are overlooked and even condoned. The legal framework and practice have entrenched the culture of impunity. People are increasingly losing faith in systems of justice and governance,” she said.
The report talked about 789 extra-judicial executions in the north-eastern Manipur Indian state between 2007 and 2010, as well as the discovery of 2700 unmarked graves in Kashmir this year.
India claims that its National Human Rights Commission ensures the protection of rights, but the commission usually defends government agencies and is not empowered to investigate violations by the army. State human rights commissions are poorly equipped and vulnerable to political pressure.
Every four years, the UN Human Rights Council examines the human rights records of all UN member states.
The latest WGHR report also pointed out that a large part of India's population remains marginalised, with many groups facing discrimination and neglect. They include women, children, Dalits or low-castes, religious minorities, the gay community and the disabled. News agencies