Amnesty India was not a stranger to controversy or run-ins with the government, but the government freezing its bank accounts has, at least for now, led to the organisation’s work in the country being halted and its employees being let go of in the middle of a pandemic. In 2009 too, when the UPA government refused to give FCRA clearance, the organisation was forced to close temporarily in India, which was the latest instance. As per reports, Amnesty India has been shut at least five times.
Amnesty called this move by the NDA government the latest in the “incessant witch-hunt of human rights organizations by the Government of India over unfounded and motivated allegations”. At the time its bank accounts were frozen, it was working on five main campaigns:
Access to justice in Jammu and Kashmir: Amnesty said that they were working towards ending the use of sanctions to prosecute security personnel and ensuring all cases of human rights violations by security forces are tried in civilian courts. Permission is required from an executive branch of the government to prosecute members of the armed forces and paramilitary forces.
“Security forces in India (including the army and central reserve police forces) enjoy broad military jurisdiction when it comes to crimes, including human rights violations, committed during “active service” and during military operations. There are no constitutional or practical safeguards to ensure that human rights violations are excluded from military courts,” the webpage states.
It also demanded that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 and 1990 be repealed. It said that the AFSPA has been ineffective in protecting people from rights abuses and crimes, and has contributed to a ‘culture of impunity’.
Individuals at risk: These individuals involve people who are prisoners of conscience, prisoners who are being tortured or are facing the death penalty, communities threatened by forced evictions, human rights defenders attacked for their work, and NGOs which were prevented from carrying out legitimate activities.
Amnesty carried out campaigns and lobbied with states, lawmakers, police and other authorities. “We create case files for individual persons, groups of people or entire communities, and mobilise our supporters to take action on their behalf,” it said.
Human rights education: Working with schools, colleges and educational systems to provide training, activity kits and platforms “through which young people can come together to learn and take action on human rights issues important to them.”
Gender based violence: Campaigns include ones working against domestic violence, survivor’s guides, Female Genital Mutilation and more.
Coal mining and Adivasi rights: Amnesty worked with Adivasi communities so that they could claim their rights, and “ensure that their rights are respected by coal mining companies and protected by government authorities.
However, apart from these, Amnesty also has run petitions, created reports and issued statements on several issues.
In June 2019, Amnesty said it was denied permission to hold a press conference to launch its third ‘Lawless Law’ report on the misuse and abuse of the Public Safety Act in Jammu and Kashmir.
Soon after it, Amnesty International testified at the US Congressional hearing on the situation of human rights in South Asia with specific focus on Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370.
In April this year, it asked that the Uttar Pradesh government stop intimidating journalists using repressive laws during a pandemic. After this, the Cyber Crime Police Station in Lucknow asked Twitter to furnish details about Amnesty India’s Twitter account.
In August, to mark one year after the abrogation of Article 370, it released an update on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir in terms of human rights.
On 28 August 2020, marking the six-month anniversary of the riots that took place in North-East Delhi in February 2020, Amnesty International India released an investigative brief on the complicity of Delhi police in the riots which claimed the lives of at least 53 people, mostly from the minority Muslim community.
It was the release of the last two reports, Amnesty India said on Tuesday, provided “fresh impetus to the establishment to harass and intimidate Amnesty International India through its investigative agencies”.
But Amnesty’s run-ins with the present dispensation hardly began there. It started at least in 2016, when it held an event after it published a report titled ‘Denied: Failures in accountability for human rights violations by security force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir’. There was reportedly ruckus at the event, which was held in 2016 in Bengaluru. The next day, Amnesty was booked for sections such as rioting and sedition. According to reports, it had shut its offices for a few days fearing violence.
Last year, it was Amnesty was raided by the CBI for alleged violations of the FCRA.