26.05.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Annual Report 2004 (covering 2003) ("Annual Report 2004") [#22668],  [ID 6962]

"Security legislation

The Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) continued to be used to detain political opponents and members of minority populations. The lapsed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act continued to be used to arrest people in Jammu and Kashmir by linking them to cases filed before 1995. Preventive arrest and detention provisions contained in other security laws as well as in the Code of Criminal Procedure were also misused against political and human rights activists.

There were grave concerns about recommendations of the Malimath Committee to incorporate into criminal law several provisions of the POTA which violate international human rights standards or which, if implemented, would lead to a heightened risk of human rights violations. For example, the Committee recommended that confessions recorded by a Superintendent of Police (or higher rank) which was also audio or video recorded should be admissible as evidence. Concerns that the provisions of the POTA could encourage the use of torture and ill-treatment by admitting such confessions appeared to have been realized in practice. In Gujarat several detainees alleged in court that their confessions were extracted under duress. Preventive arrests and detention continued to be used against political opponents using state legislation similar to the POTA in a number of states including Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka and New Delhi Union Territory. Only a handful of high-profile releases had been made by the end of the year despite a promise to review all cases of detainees held without trial for long periods under security legislation made under the Common Minimum Programme adopted by the new state government in Jammu and Kashmir."

Document(s): Open document
Open document

24.05.2004 - Source: US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants

Annual report on conditions affecting refugees and asylum seekers in 2003 ("World Refugee Survey 2004") [#22816],  [ID 6963]

"At least 650,000 persons were internally displaced in India. Among the displaced were 250,000-450,000 Kashmiris, an estimated 250,000 members of tribal groups in northeast India, an unknown number of persons, mostly Muslims, in Gujarat State in western India. The government impedes international access to internally displaced persons, and labels them migrants. [...]

Displacement in the Northeastern region. All of the seven states in the region have major displacement due to ethnic strife and insurgency. Most of the violence in the area by rebels has been directed against ethnic non-Bodos and Bengalis civilians. The Indian government continued to deny foreigners access to most of the northeast. [...]

In Arunachal Pradesh state violence has displaced at least 3,000 Chakmas in past years. Many residents view Chakma as refugees and resent their presence, although India’s supreme court directed the government to grant the Chakma citizenship in 2000."

Document(s): Open document