India :Remedies to human rights violations a mirage
February 27, 2014
ALRC-CWS-25-14-2014
/HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL//
Twenty fifth session, Agenda Item 3, General Debate /* *
* **A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre** *
*INDIA: Remedies to human rights violations a mirage*
India has one of the most commended and emulated legal systems in
Asia. The jurisprudence developed by the country's courts is model to
developing and advanced jurisdictions alike in interpreting state
responsibility on safeguard human rights guarantees. The judiciary in
India enjoys a unique position, shared with only three other
jurisdictions in Asia - Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea - concerning
independence and absolute non-interference by the executive and by
other powerful organs of the state, including the armed forces.
Yet, India is one of the least performers in the world when it comes
to realisation of fundamental human rights guarantees to all its
citizens, irrespective of their economic, religious and social status.
The country performs poorly by comparison to rest of the world
democracies, concerning the actualisation of remedies to human rights abuses.
One of the most serious concerns affecting the realisation of
adequate and effective remedies to human rights abuses to victims is
the enormous delay in adjudications. A litigation to complete in India
could take often more than a decade. According to a statement made by
the Prime Minister of India in the Lok Sabha in 2010, India has the
largest backlog of cases in the world. This situation has not
improved, since today, the country has an estimated 30 million cases
pending disposal. Of this a substantial number of cases are more than
a decade old. An estimated four million cases are pending before the
country's High Courts and the Supreme Court itself has an estimated
65,000 cases pending before it.
In 2008 the Government of India set itself the target of having 50
serving judges per million people by 2013. However in 2012, when it
became clear that India was far short of this goal, a less ambitious
5-year plan was announced: a doubling of the number of judges in
"subordinate" courts (excluding High Courts and the Supreme Court).
India's current ratio stands at less than 15 judges per million, and
even if the new target were achieved, India would still be nowhere
near to the United States, for example, where there are over 100
judges per million.
The Union Minister for Law and Justice, Mr. Kapil Sibal, while
assuming office in 2013, promised radical changes to end this impasse.
However, the unaddressed huge backlog of cases poses what Mr. Sibal's
immediate predecessor in office stated, a "threat to constitutional
democracy" that challenges the rule of law framework which has "failed
to guarantee order and stability in society".
Delays in adjudication alone is not what that threatens rights to
remedies for human rights abuses. Refusing to register complaints is
the defining character of India's criminal justice system. This
practice received the maximum and deserving bad press perhaps in 2013
when it was repeatedly revealed, that in many cases of sexual abuse
against women including in cases of rape, the police have refused to
register complaints. So much so, the most recent amendment to the
criminal law in India, made effective through the Criminal Law
(Amendment) Act, 2013, promulgated on 2 April 2013 incorporated a new
Section to the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Section 166 A, that makes it a
punishable offense for a public servant, to fail to register cases of
sexual abuse against women.
Yet the fact that the implementation of this provision is least
followed is proved through subsequent cases reported from India, where
once again the police were accused and later proved of having failed
to register cases after receiving credible complaints of sexual abuses
against women. So far, not a single police officer in India who has
contravened this provision of law has been charged with a crime
punishable under this section or placed on trial.
In addition, crimes committed by the armed forces of the Union,
particularly the detachments of the Indian Army or one of its many
para-military units are excluded from being registered as crimes by
the local police. In places where the notorious Armed Forces (Special
Powers) Act, 1958 is in operation, the law provides statutory impunity
to the armed forces from prosecution of crimes. In states like Jammu
and Kashmir, and Manipur, where the armed forces deployed in these
areas commit criminal offences with impunity in large numbers,
including rape of women and extrajudicial execution of civilians,
there has been no prosecutions so far of the armed forces in a
civilian court. Neither has there been any commendable increase in the
number of cases registered against members of the armed forces, even
if the offence is of that nature covered under Section 166 A of the
Penal Code.
The uniformed forces of the state commit a substantial number of
human rights violations reported from India. This includes offences
committed by the local police and the armed forces of the Union, of
varying nature and gravity, including custodial rape, torture and
extrajudicial executions. The fact that there is no independent
crime-investigating agency in India, places the responsibility of
investigating such crimes with the same agency negating the premises
of independence and honesty in investigations.
Henceforth, even though offences like custodial rape, torture and
extrajudicial executions in India is at an alarmingly high rate, there
are hardly any cases registered against the members of these state
agencies. Substantive impunity that has led to deep-rooted
demoralisation and has fuelled corruption at all levels is the
hallmark of the country's crime investigation agencies.
India today also lacks a legislation that provides witness
protection. Threatening and intimidating of witnesses particularly in
cases where the victims are pursuing a criminal complaint against a
state agent, like a police officer is common in India.
Often the Public Prosecutor, who appears for the victim in a
criminal case, joins forces with the prosecuted state agent, thereby
undermining the security of the victim as well as the witnesses in the
case. Additionally, the office of the Public Prosecutor, is one of the
most corrupt and inept institutions in the entire criminal justice
administration setup in the country that is least spoken about or
investigated so far.
India also lacks a legal and normative framework that sets
universally acceptable standards for punitive and monetary
compensation in cases where financial compensations are awarded for
human rights abuses. Monetary compensation awarded for a human rights
violation varies wildly between jurisdictions. For example if a civil
litigation for compensation in a case of custodial torture fetches an
award of Rupees one million in one state, the award may be as less as
Rupees 25,000 in another case, tried and adjudicated in another
jurisdiction under similar circumstances. The Supreme Court of India
has so far refused to lay down any yardsticks for its lower courts
while adjudicating similar claims. The payment of paltry compensation,
as low as, sometimes a few thousand rupees serves as one of the most
disheartening as well as discouraging factors for victims to approach
the court seeking compensation for human rights abuses. Additionally
the costs of the litigation far exceed the award, often ten to twenty
times of the compensation awarded.
Due to the foregoing reasons, victims of human rights abuses face an
exceptionally uphill task when they chose to pursue legal remedies
against their cause. This situation stands in stark contrast to
India's domestic as well as international human rights commitments. It
negates each one of India's voluntary pledges to the Human Rights
Council.
Therefore the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) request the Council to:
a. Urge India to take immediate steps to curb inordinate delays in adjudications, and;
b. Recommend that India undertakes a substantial review of its criminal justice framework that adequate and immediate changes are made to, most importantly its investigative framework, that it meets
the requirements of fast advancing democracy.
*/About the ALRC: /*/The Asian Legal Resource Centre is an independent regional non-governmental organisation holding general
consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It is the sister organisation of the Asian Human Rights
Commission. The Hong Kong-based group seeks to strengthen and encourage positive action on legal and human rights issues at the
local and national levels throughout Asia.// /
* This PR was sent to e-pao.net by Asian Human Rights Commission who can be contacted at humanrights.asia
This Press Release was posted on February 27, 2014
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