The Gujarat government’s alleged failure to bring perpetrators to justice “continues to be a source of tension throughout the entire country,” the Human Rights Watch report said. (Photo: AFP)

Human Rights Watch has credited the new Congress Party government in India with some positive accomplishments, but criticizes the continued abrogation of civil rights by security forces in conflict areas, points to the lack of justice meted out to killers in Gujarat responsible for the death of thousands of Muslims in that State, and urges the regionally strong country to encourage human rights standards among neighbors.

“The new coalition government … has taken some important positive steps with regard to respect for human rights,” says the HRW 2004 Annual Report. These include repeal of the oft-abused Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and a re-evaluation of federal government educational policies that have fostered communitarian resentments.

“Notwithstanding the repeal of POTA, the government continues to use other legislation to shield security forces from accountability,” accuses HRW, “Indian military, paramilitary, and police forces have engaged in serious human rights abuses not just in conflict zones such as Kashmir, but also when dealing with criminal suspects and detainees.”

The Gujarat government’s alleged failure to bring perpetrators to justice “continues to be a source of tension throughout the entire country,” even though the Supreme Court and the National Human Rights Commission have taken several positive steps to secure justice for the victims of the riots. The new government of Manmohan Singh also has to contend with “the Indian government’s systematic failure to protect the rights of Dalits, other marginalized castes and religious minorities,” HRW asserts.

Furthermore, HRW points out, “The Congress Party itself has failed to provide any justice to the victims of serious abuses against the Sikh community in Delhi and Punjab 20 years ago.”

2004 marked the 20th anniversary of ‘Operation Blue Star,’ a focal point in the conflict between Sikh nationalists and state security apparatus in the Punjab in the 1980s; and the anti-Sikh riots in New Delhi, which resulted in more than 3,000 Sikh deaths.

In July 2004, the National Human Rights Commission called for claims in cases of summary execution in Punjab. The assignment of individual criminal responsibility for those and other crimes committed during the period, however, remains elusive, noted the report.

India has the largest number of working children in the world, millions of whom work in the worst forms of child labor, including bonded labor, HRW points out, and accuses the Indian government of not protecting them as it is supposed to under law. “Instead, for reasons of apathy, caste bias, and corruption, many government officials deny that they exist at all.”

On the HIV/AIDS front, victims suffer “widespread stigmatization and discrimination,” being denied employment and access to education and health care, and those at high risk facing police harassment and other state-sponsored abuse that undermines HIV prevention and care.

Women and girls confront discrimination and violence in practically every aspect of life, asserts HRW, noting the strong preference for sons over daughters that has led to sharply skewed gender ratios in several states.

“Despite several legal provisions for gender equality, women still struggle to realize equal rights to property, marriage, divorce, and protection under the law,” and gender-based violence, including domestic violence, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and trafficking into forced labor and forced prostitution remain serious and pervasive problems in India.” India decided in 2003 to stop receiving bilateral assistance from all but six countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia. The decision is widely perceived as an effort to bolster India’s image as a world power, notes HRW.

“Increasingly, India has been providing significant amounts of financial and military aid to its smaller neighbors, but has not used its increasing influence to make public calls for better compliance with human rights standards,” asserts the rights report.

New Delhi has not used its position of influence to push the Nepalese government to improve its human right records, and has resisted calls for a multilateral peace conference, presumably to avoid similar calls for resolving the Kashmir dispute, says HRW. It also accused India of building close relations with the “brutal” military government of Burma.