Indian Army’s Human Rights Record Zero Tolerance
for Principles of Justice
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-martials 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.
Khurram Parvez
Program Coordinator, JKCCS
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