Armed forces' "accesses" in J&K: Govt of India "doesn't know" procedure followed to sanction persecution

By A Representative
After waiting for more than 40 days, well-known Right to Information (RTI) activist Venkatesh Nayak has received a strange reply to his RTI plea regarding procedure followed by the Union ministry of defence in “sanctioning” the prosecution of members of the defence forces for human rights violations committed under the Armed Forces (Jammu & Kashmir) Special Powers, 1990 (J&K AFSPA).
While the reply says, the information on it is "not available/held with the concerned agency of the Army”, ironically, the Ministry told Parliament early this year that it had denied requests from the J&K Government for sanction to prosecute security personnel in 50 cases that occurred during 2001-16.
While the requests were pending in three cases, the Ministry’s reply to the Rajya Sabha to an unstarred question by Husain Dalwai, MP, said, it had ‘denied’ sanction to prosecute the accused in other cases involving allegations of ‘murder or killing of civilians’ (17 cases), ‘rape’ (2 cases), ‘death in security operations’ (10 cases), ‘custodial death’ (3 cases), ‘beating or torture’ (2 cases), ‘abduction and death (of the abducted person)’ (3 cases), ‘disappearance’ (7 cases), ‘illegal detention’ (1 case) ‘fake encounter’ (1 case) and ‘theft and molestation’ (2 cases).
Seeking a photocopy of all official records containing details of the procedure that is required to be followed by the ministry while deciding whether or not to grant sanction for prosecuting any member of the defence forces, Nayak said in an email alert to Counterview, he had also sought photocopies of official records/documents containing the norms, criteria and standards that are required to be applied for assessing the evidence submitted by the J&K government.
Nayak further sought the rank or designation of the officer who is competent to make a final decision on whether or not to grant sanction for prosecuting any member of the defence forces for actions committed under J&K AFSPA; and photocopies of the communication sent by the Ministry to the J&K government denying sanction for prosecution.
At the same time, Nayak had sought inspection of every file including all papers, correspondence, file notings and emails, if any, relating to the denial of sanction for prosecution. The reply to Nayak, notably, comes against the backdrop of the “good news” for the people in Meghalaya – lifting of the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) from their State.
Section 7 of J&K AFSPA requires that "no prosecution, suit or other legal proceeding shall be instituted, except with the previous sanction of the Central Government, against any person in respect of anything done or purported to be done in exercise of the powers conferred by this Act."
Nayak received the reply after several departments of the defence ministry apparently avoided giving any reply to the RTI query. The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of defence ministry transferred the RTI plea to another CPIO, who sits in Sena Bhawan. The second CPIO transferred the RTI application to the CPIO, Indian Army after next four days.
Interestingly, the CPIO, Indian Army, sent Nayak an “acknowledgement” within a week of receiving the RTI plea transferred by the Defence Department, saying as the headquarters of the Indian Army worked only five days a week, and as there were 8 non-working days in a month, he should “accept” delayed response.
What Nayak, who is with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), finally received was a one line reply – that the information sought in the RTI application was "not available/held with the concerned agency of the Army”!
Asks Nayak, “If neither the defence ministry nor the Indian Army has the details of cases sent by the J&K government requesting sanction for prosecution of defence personnel, then what was the basis of the Minister's reply tabled in Parliament?”

Comments

Anonymous said…

Strange are the ways of Government. Left hand doesn’t know what right hand does . Or is it blocking all further queries?

May 01, 2018

Uma said…

When the government does not respect its own Acts, there is little wonder that crooks get away with anything and everything

May 02, 2018

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

The Vande Mataram debate and the politics of manufactured controversy

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The recent Vande Mataram debate in Parliament was never meant to foster genuine dialogue. Each political party spoke past the other, addressing its own constituency, ensuring that clips went viral rather than contributing to meaningful deliberation. The objective was clear: to construct a Hindutva narrative ahead of the Bengal elections. Predictably, the Lok Sabha will likely expunge the opposition’s “controversial” remarks while retaining blatant inaccuracies voiced by ministers and ruling-party members. The BJP has mastered the art of inserting distortions into parliamentary records to provide them with a veneer of historical legitimacy.

Ahmedabad's Sabarmati riverfront under scrutiny after Subhash Bridge damage

By Rosamma Thomas* Large cracks have appeared on Subhash Bridge across the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, close to the Gandhi Ashram . Built in 1973, this bridge, named after Subhash Chandra Bose , connects the eastern and western parts of the city and is located close to major commercial areas. The four-lane bridge has sidewalks for pedestrians, and is vital for access to Ashram Road , Ellis Bridge , Gandhinagar and the Sabarmati Railway Station .

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Proposals for Babri Masjid, Ram Temple spark fears of polarisation before West Bengal polls

By A Representative A political debate has emerged in West Bengal following recent announcements about plans for new religious structures in Murshidabad district, including a proposed mosque to be named Babri Masjid and a separate announcement by a BJP leader regarding the construction of a Ram temple in another location within Behrampur.

No action yet on complaint over assault on lawyer during Tirunelveli public hearing

By A Representative A day after a detailed complaint was filed seeking disciplinary action against ten lawyers in Tirunelveli for allegedly assaulting human rights lawyer Dr. V. Suresh, no action has yet been taken by the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, according to the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

Myanmar prepares for elections widely seen as a junta-controlled exercise

By Nava Thakuria* Trouble-torn Myanmar (also known as Burma or Brahmadesh) is preparing for three-phase national elections starting on 28 December 2025, with results expected in January 2026. Several political parties—primarily proxies of the Burmese military junta—are participating, while Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) remains banned. Observers expect a one-sided contest where junta-backed candidates are likely to dominate.

From crime to verdict: The 27-year journey that 'rewarded' the destroyers of Babri Masjid

By Shamsul Islam Thirty-three years ago, on December 6, 1992, a 16th-century mosque was reduced to rubble by a frenzied mob orchestrated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its political fronts. The demolition was not a spontaneous outburst of Hindu sentiment; it was the meticulously planned culmination of a hate campaign that branded Indian Muslims as “Babur-ki-aulad” and the Babri Masjid as a symbol of historical humiliation.

Global LNG boom 'threatens climate goals': Banks urged to end financing

By A Representative The world is on the brink of an unprecedented surge in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) development, with 279 new projects planned globally, threatening to derail international climate goals and causing severe local impacts. This stark warning comes from a coalition of organizations—including Reclaim Finance, Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, and others—that today launched the " Exit LNG " website, a new mapping project exposing the extent of the expansion, the companies involved, and their bank financiers.

Search This Blog