03.11.2005 - Source: BBC News

Villagers in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka state killed, raped and tortured by police during search for outlaw Veerappan, who was shot dead in October 2004 ("Report details police atrocities") [#38587],  [ID 7394]

Document(s): Open document

11.08.2004 - Source: Asian Centre for Human Rights

Article on Draft National Policy on Tribals and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes ("Spanners in the Draft National Policy on Tribals (ACHRF/33/04)") [#24835],  [ID 7395]

"[...]The majority of the States have failed to set up Special Courts under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. As of 2 February 2003, exclusive Special Courts have been set up only in Andhra Pradesh (12), Bihar (11), Chhatisgarh (07), Gujarat (10), Karnataka (06), Madhya Pradesh (29), Rajasthan (17), Tamil Nadu (04), Uttar Pradesh (40) and Uttranchal (01). [...]"

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26.05.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Annual Report 2004 (covering 2003) ("Annual Report 2004") [#22668],  [ID 7396]

"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."

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25.02.2004 - Source: US Department of State

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003 ("Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003") [#19765],  [ID 7397]

"[...]Criminal gangs in all four southern states were known to attack rivals and deny free access to justice. In some cases, accused persons were attacked while being escorted by police to the courts. [...]"

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25.02.2004 - Source: US Department of State

USDOS: NGOs allowed to visit prisons ("Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003") [#19765],  [ID 7398]

"[...]NGOs were allowed to work in prisons, within specific governmental guidelines. In Kerala and Karnataka, the state governments selectively cleared NGOs to visit prisons.[...]"

Document(s): Open document

25.02.2004 - Source: US Department of State

USDOS: Karnataka: Child labour ("Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003") [#19765],  [ID 7399]

"[...]The enforcement of child labor laws was the responsibility of the state governments; however, enforcement was inadequate, especially in the informal sector in which most children who work were employed. There was no evidence that the 2001 state government of Karnataka plan to eliminate all child labor was in operation during the year. During the year, the state government of Andhra Pradesh promulgated a plan to strengthen penalties for employers of child labor and eventually eliminate all child labor. The continuing prevalence of child labor was attributed to social acceptance of the practice, to the failure of the state and federal governments to make primary school education compulsory, and to ineffective state and federal government enforcement of existing laws
[...]Bonded child labor in silk twining factories was a problem. The labor commissioner estimated that there were 3,000 bonded child laborers in the Magadi silk twining factories. In January, HRW traveled to the country to investigate reported use of child slaves in the silk industry. HRW interviewed children in three states, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, and found that production of silk thread still depended on bonded children. The report said, "At every stage of the silk industry, bonded children as young as 5 years old work 12 or more hours a day, six and a half or 7 days a week. Children making silk thread dip their hands in boiling water that burns and blisters them. They breathe smoke and fumes from machinery, handle dead worms that cause infections, and guide twisting threads that cut their fingers. By the time they reach adulthood, they are improvised, illiterate, and often crippled by the work."
[...]"

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05.12.2001 - Source: Reporters Sans Frontières

Karnataka: journalist working for the magazine Nakkeeran written in Tamil language secretly detained ("A journalist secretly detained in the state of Karnataka") [#4945],  [ID 7400]

Document(s): Open document