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India

Image:Emblem of India.svg This article is part of the series: Politics and government of India

Constitution Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles and Fundamental Duties President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Government Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Deputy Prime Minister Ministers Parliament Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee Recent Elections General elections, 2004 State Assembly elections Political parties Supreme Court Chief Justice Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal High Courts District Courts States and territories Human rights Political scandals Foreign relations

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The situation of human rights in India is a complex one, as a result of the country's large size and tremendous diversity, its status as a developing country, and its history as a former colonial territory. It is often held, particularly by Indian human rights groups and activists, that members of the Dalit or Untouchable caste have suffered and continue to suffer substantial discrimination. It has also often been held that religious minorities, such as Sikhs and Muslims, along with street children have been targeted with violent brutalities by the Indian police, military, and paramilitary forces.In India "uman rights"is for all practical purposes a privilege available only to the rich and the powerful.It is a sad fact that, the overwhelming majority of the poor in India being the OBC's (Hindu other backward castes)and the Scheduled Castes of course the minorities like Muslims etc;the brunt of human rights abuses are borne by these sections of society.Recently,the Sarchar committee constituted by the government to study the status of Muslim community in India,reported that the Muslims are backward in every respect and are have an abysmally low representation in almost all walks of life.But,it has been reported that the Sarchar committee has withheld a very important finding from it's report.The finding allegedly withheld by the committee is that while muslims are under represented in all walks of life,there is a disproportionate number of Muslims in the country's jails,either as convicts or as under trails.

It is not due to lack of adequate laws protecting human rights or the lack of vigilance of the Indian Judiciary that right violations are taking place with impunity throughout the territory of the union of India.The Indian Constitution and the Indian legal system as equipped the nation and it's people with enough safe guards against rights violations.In fact,the higher judiciary in India and especially the Supreme court of India have time and again come out with abundant support for human rights.But, unfortunately wide spread lack of awareness and the clandestine encouragement of the Government of India and the State Governments in India have collectively contributed for stark and naked violations of human rights on a scale that is unprecedented in any democratic nation state.The police force in India carries on with impunity,it's orgies of custodial violence and killings;secure in the knowledge that custodial crimes go unpunished and that they have the fullest protection of the Government in power. The entire blame for this sad state of affairs must be evenly shared by political parties of all shades and hues,whether in opposition or in power.It is the ugly and unholy politician-police-criminal nexus that's responsible for all the blatant human rights abuses in India,other than in the insurgency affected parts of the country where the reasons are altogether of a different kind and dimension.

Contents 1 Chronology of human rights in India 2 Human Rights Watch and India 2.1 Allegations of bias against India 3 References 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Chronology of human rights in India

• 1829 - The practice of sati was formally abolished in British India after years of campaigning by Ram Mohan Roy against this Hindu funeral custom of self-immolation of widows after the death of their husbands.

Compared to other countries India has a strong and vibrant media which does not allow any atrocity to go totally unnoticed. The Indian media has, if not helped the cause of propagating human rights, at least created channels to let human rights violations come to the notice of the public consciousness.

[edit] Human Rights Watch and India

Human Rights Watch has recently published several reports attacking the Human rights situation in India. Allegations have been made of anti-India and anti-Hindu bias on the part of this and other organizations.

[edit] Allegations of bias against India

Yatindra Bhatnagar, chief editor of "International Opinion", has criticized Human Rights Watch representatives and those of related organizations of having an anti-India bias with regards to their reports of communal riots in India between Hindus and Muslims, particularly in reference to the 2002 Gujarat violence. He writes that, instead of trying to heal the wounds of such incidents, organizations like Human Rights Watch focus disproportionately on blaming Hindus exclusively for the incident and trying to deflect attention from the violence perpetrated by Islamists in the Godhra Train Burning that precipitated the riots. In particular, he criticizes Human Rights Watch representative Smita Narula and her colleagues for providing a "blatantly one-sided" account of events and dismissing his concerns to that effect. <ref>Hours of Anti-India, Anti-Hindutva Rhetoric at “Indian” Muslim Meet, bu Yatindra Bhatnagar,International Opinion.</ref>

In addition, the reports on the Gujarat riots compiled by Human Rights Watch have been criticized by Arvin Bahl, a guest contributor to the "South Asia Analysis Group", as "one-sided" and "biased". He claims that the reports generally "are based on half-truths, distortions and sometimes outright falsehoods". He points out that Human Rights Watch's claims about the Bharatiya Janata Party advocating a Hindu Nation as its core ideology are false. He further says that his analysis of the reports accuse the Gujarat government for planning the riots but do not provide any evidence to back those assertions. He also criticizes Human Rights Watch's labeling of the attacks on Hindus by Muslims during the riots as "retaliatory". In his analysis he states that while he does not deny that Hindu extremists were responsible for the riots, he "objectively analyze[s] the complexity of communal conflict in India and avoid[s] the generalizations associated with Human Rights Watch reports."<ref>Politics By Other Means: An Analysis of Human Rights Watch Reports on India,saag.org</ref>

[edit] References

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[edit] See also

• Mohandas Gandhi
• Homosexuality in India
• Prostitution in India
• Human rights in Russia
• Human rights in China
• Human rights in the United States
• Human rights in Europe
• Censorship in India
• Vigil India Movement
• Indian Emergency (1975 - 77)

[edit] External links

• Dalit Human Rights (DHR)
• Freedom of Expression in India - IFEX
• Human Rights in India
• Street Children