Our government shows a benign mask to the world behind which its fangs are bared against its own citizens, observes Aakar Patel.
In May, 40 Rohingyas were blindfolded and flown to the Andaman and Nicobar islands and then thrown into the sea and made to swim to an island in Myanmar. And after the Pahalgam attack, at least 300 Muslims were 'pushed back' to Bangladesh from Assam.
Swamy died at the Holy Family Hospital, where he was admitted on May 29, in Mumbai on Monday, a day after he suffered a cardiac arrest and was put on ventilator support.
'Why he wasn't released, and why he had to die in custody?'
Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan defends New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's note for jailed activist Umar Khalid, emphasizing the importance of human rights.
'Human rights violations are there in rural areas and in cities. In rural areas it is crude and in the open. In urban areas it is well hidden.' 'Awareness has grown several fold. India has 160 national and state human rights institutions. No other country in the world has this.' 'Unfortunately the right to association, right to assembly, freedom of expression, right to protest and discuss are all being curtailed systematically one by one.'
Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation is significant because it punctures, however slightly, the perception that the Modi government never retreats under pressure. Every long-serving government eventually reaches a point where every institutional failure is identified with the leader himself. Removing the minister may have prevented that political burden from falling directly on Modi. Whether it also resolves the underlying crisis is another matter, notes Ramesh Menon.
'I have been a court reporter for many years and have not seen such blatant suppression of those who are fighting for human rights, suppression of freedom of expression, and linking it to terrorism.'
Jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi has been awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.
The ministry of external affairs said India remains committed to the promotion and protection of the human rights of all its citizens and that the country's democratic polity is complemented by an independent judiciary and a range of national and state-level human rights commissions.
The arrest of two Catholic nuns from Kerala in Chhattisgarh on charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion has ignited a political controversy, with opposition parties criticizing the arrest and the Chief Minister defending the police action.
The contentious bill providing for legal sanction to police to obtain physical and biological samples of convicts and detainees for investigation in criminal matters was passed by Lok Sabha on Monday, with Home Minister Amit Shah asserting it will act as a defender of human rights of law-abiding citizens.
A court in Mysuru, India, has ordered an investigation into the police's handling of a murder case after the woman allegedly murdered by her husband was found alive. Suresh, the husband, spent 1.5 years in jail on murder charges after his wife, Mallige, went missing. The police found a skeleton and filed a charge sheet against Suresh, but a DNA test later showed a mismatch. Mallige was found alive in Madikeri and admitted to eloping and marrying another man. The court has ordered the Superintendent of Police to submit a report on the lapses in the investigation.
'That is why an emotional appeal to the President.' 'There needs to be a strict law. The accused should be punished immediately.' 'All cases should be heard in fast-track courts.' 'In rural areas, women's cases are not even registered. There, political pressure stops them.' 'And if cases are not registered under political pressure, then their voices are completely silenced.'
A resolution commemorating the life of Indian human rights defender Father Stan Swamy and seeking an independent investigation into the death of the Jesuit priest has been introduced in the US Congress, Congressman Juan Vargas has said.
India in the past rejected similar reports.
On Thursday, an Indonesian court sentenced a match official for the deadly stampede that killed 135 spectators.
Pune police on Tuesday raided homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them -- poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.
'Laws have been used in a way to serve the needs of the current regime and its authoritarian ideology.'
'Those giving voice to the voiceless should be welcomed, not punished.' 'Yes, I paid a price -- 10 years in jail -- but it wasn't only me who did so. There are many paying the price.'
A United States court has sentenced an Indian-American couple to prison for coercing their relative to work at their gas station and convenience store for over three years by bringing him to the United States on the pretext of helping enrol him in a school.
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a plea for consular access moved by a family member of Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who is in a Czech prison following charges by the US relating to a foiled assassination attempt on Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
His family found an old man on a bed soaked through with urine at the J J Hospital. The man whose name drew thousands to public meetings was requesting anyone who cared to listen to change his bedsheets. But there was no one to do so.
The Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Tripura's capital Agartala on Tuesday announced the suspension of all visa and consular services with immediate effect until further notice because of 'security reasons', a day after the mission's premises was breached by a group of people protesting against the arrest of Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das in Dhaka.
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a petition by a family member of Indian national Nikhil Gupta, under detention in a Czech prison over allegations of involvement in a foiled plot to kill pro-Khalistan Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the United States, for consular access.
Ethesham Siddiqui (31), lodged in Central Jail at Arthur Road in Mumbai, has also done certificate courses in Urdu, Arabic languages and Human Rights, according to a lawyer from Jamiat-ul-Ulema, which is providing free legal aid to Ethesham and some others accused.
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed three bills to replace the colonial-era criminal laws by voice vote.
'In spite of all these days behind the bars, none of those who have been arrested is repenting their decision to stand against the injustice of this government.'
'When the Executive can do whatever they want, why bother having an election?'
'Stan's death is the culmination of a series of acts of abominable cruelty on the part of the Indian State.'
FIFA president Gianni Infantino accused critics of World Cup host Qatar's treatment of migrant workers of hypocrisy.
The SC, however, rejected NIA's request for immediate stay to the order.
"Law is supposed to be a noble profession," the Supreme Court observed on Thursday, and voiced surprise over how can one of the convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and murder of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots practise law after his conviction, the remission of his sentence notwithstanding.
The tributes to Fr Stan by his associates and his co-accused (which were read out) provided a clue to why his death continues to touch so many.
'Fear is not created by those who are defending minorities and Dalits.' 'Fear is being created by the actions of political leaders like Yogi Adityanath and police forces.' 'The kind of hate statements that are being made to which there is silence from the prime minister's side.'
The report also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel in July 2017.
Pakistan on Tuesday executed 12 prisoners convicted under militancy and murder charges
'We were activists when we were students. It was as students that we were propelled to fight for justice. Neither of us regret that.' 'Where the country is now, more and more people should become vocal.'
'When there was no crime committed, everything had to be fabricated. They see it as a war, and everything is fair in love and war.'
"Why are our jails overcrowded? Why is the the policy of remission being applied selectively?"
