Skip to main content

Hague protesters fear 'normalization' of rights violations against Hindutva opponents

Counterview Desk
A statement following one of the series of protests held in the Netherlands against the Citizens Amendment Act (CAA) by the Indian diaspora in front of the International Court of Justice ( ICJ), based in The Hague, has sharply criticized “the Indian Government’s purported discrimination amongst its citizens under the garb of providing citizenship to ‘illegal immigrants’.”
Pointing out that since December 15, 2019 protests across India have resulted in more than 25 deaths across the country “as a result of police brutality”, and all the victims are Muslims, the statement says, “In addition to these incidents, rampant human rights violations are apparent against only those individuals peacefully protesting against Indian government’s decision to implement a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the discriminatory Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.”
It adds, “This is symptomatic of the Indian Government’s intolerance towards its Muslim minorities and any movement that supports equal protection for Muslim minorities.”

Text

In light of the recent events in India, a group of Indian diaspora residing in the Netherlands, is deeply disturbed by the turn of events have decided to protest against the Government of India before the Peace Palace. The protest is directed against the enactment of Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) followed by gross perpetration of human rights violation against its citizens by the Government of India.
The preamble to the Constitution of India defines India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic. The Preamble constitutes the basic structure of the Constitution (Keshavnanda Bharati v State of Kerala (1973) SCC 225) and is beyond the amending power of the legislature (SR Bommai v Union of India (1994) 3 SCC 1).
These principles enshrined in the Preamble are further galvanized within Part III of the Constitution wherein Article 14 directs the State to ‘provide equal protection of laws for every person in the territory of India’ and Article 15 prohibits the State from discriminating amongst its citizen on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 colours the Indian Government’s purported discrimination amongst its citizens under the garb of providing citizenship to ‘illegal immigrants’.
The new amendment to Section 2(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act, 1956 renders all Hindus, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before December 31, 2014 and have continuously resided in India for a period of 5 years after the said date as legal Indian residents.
This very classification is not only violative of the Constitutional provisions mentioned above, it also jeopardizes citizenship of Indian citizens who do not belong to the aforesaid religions.
The Constitution does not permit State to enact legislation based on religion, race, case, sex, and place of birth unless such legislation is made for the welfare of minorities. Through this Act, the Indian Government has discriminated on the basis of religion by providing explicit protection to the already majoritarian religions and by implicit exclusion of Indian Muslims.
In addition to the aforesaid Act, the Indian Government has also announced fresh preparation/updating of the National Population Register (NPR) which forms the basis of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) maintained by the central government. The NPR contains biometric and demographic information of Indian citizens which information can be used to link to the NRC. 
The consequence of such link to the NRC enables the central government to have arbitrary and discriminatory power over detaining, deporting individuals the government deems fit as ‘doubtful Indian citizens’. In fact, the Citizenship Act, 1956 vests complete authority in the central government to detain such individuals and prohibits courts from reviewing its acts which is dangerous to a democratic setup.
The ongoing human rights violation in Assam (callous unreasoned orders passed by quasi-judicial tribunals, multiplication of detention centres for ‘illegal immigrants’) is an example of the effect of NRC.
While these actions by the Indian government led to unrest among the Indian masses, forceful illegal detentions and police brutality against students of Jamia Milia Islamia in Delhi and Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh participating in these protests fuelled a nation-wide protest.
Article 15 prohibits state from discriminating among its citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them
Since December 15, 2019, protests across India have resulted in more than 25 deaths across the country as a result of police brutality. It is interesting to note that all of the victims are Muslim protestors and the respective state governments have denied any compensation to the families of these victims.
In addition to these incidents, rampant human rights violations are apparent against only those individuals peacefully protesting against Indian government’s decision to implement a nationwide NRC and the discriminatory Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. This is symptomatic of the Indian Government’s intolerance towards its Muslim minorities and any movement that supports equal protection for Muslim minorities.
Not only are the acts endangering lives of thousands of protestors, open threats by democratically elected BJP leaders to perpetrate human rights violations against individuals protesting against the government is harrowing and threatens the peaceful co-existence of Indians. We also fear radical normalization of human rights violations against people opposing the ‘Hindutva ideology’.
The protest before the Peace Palace is an active plea for the international community including human rights organizations, representatives of governments to take due notice of these illegal acts committed by the Indian Government and condemn acts connected with ‘Hindutva ideology’ as an act of State sponsored terrorism.

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.