Repeal AFSPA or amend radically : UN Rapporteur
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, May 06 2013: "India should repeal, or at least radically amend, AFSPA and the Jammu and Kashmir AFSPA, with the aim of ensuring that the legislation regarding the use of force by the armed forces provides for the respect of the principles of proportionality and necessity in all instances, as stipulated under international human rights law.

It should also remove all legal barriers for the criminal prosecution of members of the armed forces," recommended UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions (SR EJE), Christof Heyns in a report of his official visit to India in March 2012 .

Meanwhile, the Working Group on Human Rights in India and the UN (WGHR) has welcomed and endorsed the report as well as the recommendations which would be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in June 2013 .

In his report, Christof Heyns highlighted that the level of extrajudicial executions in India still raises serious concerns and he recommended that the Government of India proceeds with the necessary legal reforms and policy measures in order to fight impunity, diminish the level of unlawful killings and ensure better protection of the right to life for its citizens.

The SR EJE stated in his report that during his mission to India he received a series of complaints regarding violations of the right to life by State actors, including "deaths resulting from excessive use of force by security officers with little adherence to the principles of proportionality and necessity as defined under international human right law standards" .

The SR EJE's attention was drawn to the deaths caused by the disproportionate use of force during demonstrations, deaths occurred in police custody as well as to the imposition of death penalty in the country noting that India has recently moved to extend, rather than reduce, offences for which the death penalty may be imposed, despite the existence of a de facto moratorium on executions that had been in place since 2004 .

The Special Rapporteur raised his concern on deaths caused by "fake encounters" with the police, the Central armed police forces and the armed forces being accused of several incidents of this still existing practice, while endorsing the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) concerns on encounter killings that "have become virtually a part of unofficial State policy" .

A press release issued by WGHR said that it fully endorses the SR EJE's view that the use of force in India is exacerbated by the emergency measures in the so-called "disturbed areas" of the country, namely the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and the related legislations.

The Special Rapporteur drew attention to the AFSPA provisions regulating the use of lethal force by any officer and the prohibition of prosecution of members of the armed forces without sanction granted by the Central Government.

Even though the Supreme Court in 1997 enumerated precise guidelines on the use of lethal force under AFSPA, the Special Rapporteur believes that they have failed to bring AFSPA in compliance with the international standards.

Christof Heyns aptly noted that although India has signed the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances, it has not ratified it as yet.

Welcoming the comprehensive report of Heyns, Vrinda Grover, lawyer, expressed that, "The report identifies, institutional failures, systemic omissions and legislative lacunae, as factors responsible for the widespread infringement of the right to life through extrajudicial executions.

It casts a duty upon the Indian State and statutory bodies such as the NHRC, to undertake time bound and effective statutory and structural reforms, to curb this impunity" .

Miloon Kothari, WGHR Convenor and former UN Special Rapporteur, stated that, "The report of Mr.Christof Heyns days after the statement of Ms.Rashida Manjoo, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, is a tragic reminder that under the veneer of democracy and secularism India is a deeply violent society.

This brutality is deepened by the complicity of the government, the police and the armed forces in the numerous human rights violations that continue to scar our country with the perpetrators enjoying almost total impunity for these acts.

Let us hope that the GoI engages in a constructive dialogue with Mr.Heyns when he presents his report to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2013 and that radical and immediate measures, in accordance with the Special Rapporteur's recommendations follow" .

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