U.S. State Department’s human rights report on India flags curbs on free speech, civil society

Annual human rights report notes ‘lack of accountability for official misconduct persisted at all levels of government’

In its 2021 Human Rights Report on India, the U.S. State Department has flagged concerns over arbitrary arrests and detentions, extra-judicial killings, violence against religious minorities, curbs on free expression and media, including unjustified prosecution of journalists, “overly restrictive laws” on funding of NGOs and civil society organisations, and “government harassment of domestic and international human rights organizations”, and noted that a “lack of accountability for official misconduct persisted at all levels of government, contributing to widespread impunity”. Most of these concerns had been raised in previous reports as well.

The country reports on human rights, released by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on April 12, is submitted each year to the U.S. Congress. It is retrospective and contains a country-wise discussion of the state of internationally recognised individual, civil, political and worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international agreements.

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The report on India observed that Indian law “prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention but both occurred during the year”, with police using “special security laws to postpone judicial reviews of arrests”. The report also noted that “pretrial detention was arbitrary and lengthy, sometimes exceeding the duration of the sentence given to those convicted”.

Cases of arbitrary detention detailed by the report include that of climate activist Disha Ravi in February 2021, human rights activist Hidme Markam, and the frequent house arrests of former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.

Noting that the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) “allows courts to deny bail in the case of detained citizens”, the report highlighted the denial of bail to most of the 15 activists incarcerated in connection with the Elgar Parishad Bhima Koregaon protests, and detailed the cases of 81-year-old Varavara Rao and Jesuit priest Stan Swamy who died after “a special NIA [National Investigation Agency] court had rejected multiple bail pleas submitted on medical grounds”.

Citing media reports on journalists being targeted for surveillance through the Pegasus malware, the report flagged violations of privacy by government authorities, “including the use of technology to arbitrarily or unlawfully surveil or interfere with the privacy of individuals”.