annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

Preface
Reporting on human rights violations covering 27 States and three
thematic issues – the right to freedom of expression, religious
intolerance and National Human Rights Commission - of India is
gigantic. It has never been prepared by any organisation or institution in
India. The poor state of human rights in India is a common knowledge. It is
reported 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year. Yet, when
information on human rights violations is documented, collated and
analysed, the gruesome pictures of lawless law enforcement and human
rights violations emerge.
Yet, India Human Rights Report 2005 covering the events from 1
January to 31 December 2004 has not been able to report on a range of
issues which are extremely important. This is primarily because of the lack
of adequate information or staffing to cover the events. While there are a
large number of civil society groups working on the rights of the child,
women empowerment and trafficking of women and children, our attention
was also drawn to the conditions of the unheard people who were displaced
by Tau Devi Lal Thermal Power Station in Haryana and Pong dam in
Himachal Pradesh.
The violation of the right to life through brutal torture in custody or
extrajudicial executions in alleged armed encounters is the most serious
human rights violation. Hundreds of people are killed in custody every year
and the NHRC’s Annual Reports vouch it. The excessive powers given for
arbitrary arrest and detention and non-implementation of the guidelines on
arrest and detention as provided in the D K Basu judgement result in custodial
death. Most victims of deaths in police custody seem to fall ill the moment
they are taken into custody. Many are often conveniently made victims of
suicide with strange objects like shoelaces. Suddenly, the detainees have
access to poison in police custody. The doctors in violation of the medical
ethics doctor the autopsy reports. Punishment for custodial killings is often
mere transfer to the police lines and advice for retirement. High number of