By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: Amnesty International in its annual report released today has accused India of supporting a climate of intolerance by cracking down on dissent through arbitrary arrests, gender & caste-based discrimination, extrajudicial killings and attacks on freedom of expression.
The rights body in its annual report for 2015-16 said that India’s Hindu nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had failed to prevent hundreds of incidents of communal violence and ruling party lawmakers and politicians were fueling religious tensions with provocative speeches and justifications for the violence, it said.
The report especially noted that over the past year, crackdown on freedom of expression by some groups linked to the government had intensified, and said, “Censorship and attacks on freedom of expression by hardline Hindu groups grew. Scores of artists, writers and scientists returned national honours in protest against what they said was a climate of growing intolerance”.
“Scores of artists, writers and scientists returned national honours in protest against what they said was a climate of growing intolerance,” the report reads adding, “Authorities clamped down on civil society organisations critical of official policies, and increased restrictions on foreign funding. Religious tensions intensified, and gender and caste-based discrimination and violence remained pervasive. Censorship and attacks on freedom of expression by hardline Hindu groups grew.”
In reference to violence against women, it said: “Although nearly 322,000 crimes against women, including over 37,000 cases of rape, were reported in 2014, stigma and discrimination by police officials and authorities in India continued to deter women from reporting sexual violence, and most states still lacked standard operating procedures for the police to address violence against women.”
It also highlighted “restrictive foreign funding laws” being used to repress NGOs critical of the government.
“Over 3,200 people were being held in January under administrative detention on executive orders without charge or trial,” the report said, adding that authorities continue to use “anti-terror” laws which do not meet international human rights standards.
However, the report hailed peace treaty signed in by government with armed group and said, “In August, the government announced a peace agreement with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah faction) armed group, which civil society groups said could improve the human rights situation in Nagaland state and parts of northeast India.”