Getting Away With Murder
Thakur Foundation / by Geeta Seshu & Urvashi Sarkar
A study on the killings of and attacks on journalists in India, 2014–2019, and justice delivery in these cases.
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The widening fissure in India’s rule of law
The Hindu / by Gautam Bhatia
Last month, the news website Scroll revealed that more than 10,000 people in the Khunti district of Jharkhand had been chargesheeted by the police for sedition. These people are overwhelmingly Adivasis. Then, in early December, a judicial probe completed a seven-year long investigation, finding that a so-called encounter of “Maoists” in Chhattisgarh by security forces, in 2012, had been a “fake encounter” all along. The people killed had not been Maoists, but innocent villagers.
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The Response to the Hyderabad rape spotlights India’s dangerous turn
The Washington Post / by Kavita Krishnan
… The same propagandists that celebrate lynchings and custodial killings as “justice” and profile Muslims as “rapists” and “love jihadis” also call feminists “anti-nationals” and proponents of “free sex.” Feminist lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, who helped indigenous people in central India fight legal battles against custodial rapes and killings by police and paramilitary, is currently in jail after pro-government TV channels and police ran a campaign branding her an “urban Naxal,” or agent of left-wing militants.
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Demolishing Human Rights in India
Sabrang India / by Fr Cedric Prakash
This past year from December 2018, had two significant 70th anniversaries: first, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December 1948) and then, of the promulgation of the Constitution of India (November 26, 2019). It is quite certain that the makers of the Indian Constitution took inspiration from the UDHR. Strangely enough, as if on cue, everything possible is done by the powers that control the destiny of the nation, to demolish human rights and the values enshrined in the Constitution!
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Indian democracy’s big contradiction – Dalits cherish Constitution, privileged want a rethink
The Print / by Dilip Mandal
On the 70th year of the making of the Indian Constitution, here is an important question. Why does the Dalit community celebrate the Constitution the most, when it has received the least in terms of dignity, resources and development?
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Big Brother is phishing you
The Indian Express / By Ravi Shankar
WhatsApp Pegasus controversy has stoked new fears about government surveillance. As terrorists use encryption to hide their plots, civil society groups cry violation of rights.
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Spyware Maker NSO Promises Reform but Keeps Snooping
New York Times / by Vindu Goel & Nicole Perlroth
Recent revelations in India show that the threat from the company’s spyware to activists and journalists isn’t limited to autocratic regimes.
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India Justice Report 2019 shows country’s failing criminal justice system
Pic: Arun Ferreira
Sabrgangindia.in / by Sanchita Kadam
India has only 1 police personnel for every 663 individuals. Most states and Union Territories (UTs) spend less than Rs. 100 per prisoner per day.
The report also states that in India, per capita public spending on legal aid is only Rs. 0.75 per annum. In a country where over 1.25 billion population is eligible for free legal aid, the per capita spending of 75 paise is quite a disgrace.
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Israeli Spyware: India Turns to WhatsApp For Answers, But What Should We Really Be Asking?
The Wire / by The Wire Analysis
While the home ministry says reports have attempted to malign the Centre, we need to know who wanted to snoop on Indian targets and how successful they were.
New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government on Thursday sought a detailed response from WhatsApp over the issue of an Israeli spyware allegedly being used to target Indian journalists and human rights activists through its platform.
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First, They Came For the Lawyers…
The Wire / by Jhuma Sen
The Israeli spyware snooping scandal in the latest example of how India is no exception when it comes to common patterns of persecution and intimidation of lawyers working on human rights issues.
The relationship between civil liberties lawyers, more commonly identified by its universal moniker ‘human rights lawyers’ and repressive regimes globally demonstrate some common patterns of persecution and intimidation.
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