INDIAN ARMY’S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD:
ZERO TOLERANCE FOR PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE BY KHURRAM PARVEZ, PROGRAM
COORDINATOR, JKCCS:
POSTED BY HABIB YOUSAFZAI, KASHMIR DIASPORA ALLIANCE
ASSALAM-O-ALAIKUM!
From: Khurram Parvez <khurramparvez@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2013 3:23 AM
Subject: Indian Army’s Human Rights Record: Zero Tolerance for Principles of Justice
JAMMU KASHMIR COALITION OF CIVIL
SOCIETY
The Indian Army’s
Human Rights Record: Zero Tolerance for Principles of Justice
Press release: 12
December 2013
On
the eve of the 10 December 2013 Human Rights Day, Lt. General Chachra ordered
that there be “zero human rights violations” and claimed that the Northern
Command of Indian army has received 1,524 allegations of human rights
violations during the past 20 years and out of which 42 cases from Jammu and
Kashmir involving 124 army personnel were found true following investigation
into each of them by an “independent and autonomous body”.
This
Indian army position is an attempt to obfuscate the reality of the Indian
States human rights record in Jammu and Kashmir. Over the last 23 years, there
have been thousands of cases of enforced disappearances, extra-judicial
executions, rapes, torture and other violations. Additionally, over the last 23
years, only a fraction of cases against the armed forces have been recorded in
the form of First Information Reports. Against this background, 1524
allegations are miniscule and not even remotely close to the actual figure of
allegations against the armed forces. It appears the Indian State is aware of
this as it constantly contradicts itself: the former Chief of the Army
Staff General N.C. Vij on 21 May 2004 stated that two thousand complaints of
human rights violations were received during the last 14 years and that “Most
of them were found incorrect. 35 armed forces personnel were punished which
included eight officers. Some of them were dismissed from service and later on
jailed.” But, in a contradictory letter to the National Human Rights Commission
[NHRC] dated 24 May 2004, he stated that 131 army personnel of various ranks
were punished for human rights violations.
More
recently, on 6 May 2012, army sources revealed to the media that 1532
allegations were received, out of which 995 were from Jammu and Kashmir, and 961
were found false and 59 personnel from Jammu and Kashmir were punished.
Therefore, between 6 May 2012 and 9 December 2013, the total number of
allegations in Northern Command inexplicably comes down by 8, but the number of
personnel punished in Jammu and Kashmir goes up to 124 from 59 in just one
year. The lies of the Indian army obviously have not been consistent as in 1st November
2007 the GOC 15 Corps, A. S. Shekon mentioned to the media that 85 army
personnel have been punished between 1990 and 2007.
In
the year 2000, the then National Conference Minister, Ali Mohammad Sagar
claimed that in his party’s rule 210 army personnel were convicted. It is
surely in contradiction to what army has been claiming and therefore it can
assumed that such politicians are promoting lies when it comes to army’s
culpability and misleading their own people.
It
is clear that the Indian army only carries out court-martials when pushed to do
so by public pressure that leads to police investigations. Therefore,
presumably, it is the investigations of the Indian State run police that have
so consistently been disregarded by the Indian army i.e. the Indian army agrees
with only 3% of the police investigations.
There
is no transparency. RTI applications for information relating to the
court-martial processes are routinely ignored and/or dismissed. In fact, even
the present army statement is not accompanied by any details: no names of
victims, detailed allegations or record of court-martial proceedings. No
information that could allow the public to critically analyze the human rights
record of the Indian army. JKCCS has in its possession, and has already made
public, the only information provided by the Indian army on court-martials
between 1990-2011 in Jammu and Kashmir: two lists dated 28 March 2012 and 18
June 2012 pertaining only to the Rashtriya Rifles, and a separate communication
dated 22 June 2012 relating to one Rashtriya Rifles court-martial. A total of
29 court-martials are provided in the first list, and 53 in the second.
Accounting for overlaps between the lists, and adding the case in the third
communication, the total number of court-martials is: 58.
Based
on information provided in the RTI, except in three cases, there is no way to
discern whether these court-martial relate to violations against civilians or
other army personnel. But based on other available information it appears only
a total of 5 cases in these lists relate to civilians. Only 9 Officers appear to be involved
in all these court-martials. Further, what is clear is that of these 58 cases,
20 appear to be quite clearly related to more minor crimes i.e. not murder
or sexual assault including rape. Of the remaining 38 cases, appropriate
conviction/punishment appears [as there is no record to
analyze] to have been provided in only 21 cases. Of particular note are two
cases of rape, one against Captain Ravinder Singh Tewatia [for the rape of
mother and daughter in February 2000], and the other against Major Rehman
Hussain [for the rape of mother and daughter in November 2004]. Captain Tewatia
was convicted by the court-martial and sentenced to imprisonment for seven
years. Major Hussain was dismissed from service as he was reportedly only
convicted for outraging the modesty of the victims. Both alleged perpetrators
challenged their decisions in the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and received
verdicts in their favor. While Captain Tewatia’s case is still pending further
legal challenge, Major Hussain has reportedly returned to service. Therefore,
the information provided by the Indian army would require further verification
to ascertain whether the court-martial verdicts were subsequently overturned.
On
6 December 2012, IPTK/APDP released the report titled alleged
Perpetrators that analyses cases of human rights violations in Jammu
and Kashmir. The criminal role of 235 army personnel, including 96 from the
Rashtriya Rifles is detailed in this report. No substantive response
has been received from the Indian army to date.
The
human rights record of the Indian army stands for zero tolerance for any
principles of justice. The fact that in 23 years the Indian State [Ministry of
Home Affairs and Ministry of Defence] has not granted sanction for prosecution
in a civilian court under AFSPA sends a clear message: the State forces will
commit crimes, deny sanction for civilian prosecution, carry out their own
court-martials in exceptional cases, and ensure zero transparency or
accountability. Therefore, the recent statement of the Indian army must be
understood to be nothing but a part of the 2011 army doctrine – WHAM [Winning
Hearts and Minds] – an attempt to mislead the people of the true role and
intentions of the Indian State, as the Indian State is institutionally
responsible for the crimes perpetrated on the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
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