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Injustice with Sikhs in India – HRW recommendations are welcomed, but they are not a solution: CSC

May 30, 2012 | By Sikh Siyasat Bureau

Vancouver, BC (May 28, 2012): In a report made public recently, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has pressured India to lay charges against the individuals responsible for the massacre of Sikhs in 1984.

The report detailed the killings in the village of Hondh-Chillar, where 32 Sikhs were killed on November 2, 1984. In March, 2011, the site of another forgotten killing of 17 people in nearby Pataudi, was discovered.

“The discovery of more Sikh massacre victims after nearly three decades shows the reluctance of successive Indian governments, despite numerous commissions of inquiry, to get to the truth and prosecute those responsible for the anti-Sikh violence,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

This isn’t the first time Human Rights Watch has exposed India’s horrific human rights record. Commenting on extrajudicial killings by police, HRW stated in a 1990 report that, “the frequency with which these killings were reported to take place and the consistency of the eyewitness testimony indicate that they are not aberrations but rather the product of a deliberate policy known to high-ranking security personnel and members of the civil administration in Punjab and New Delhi.”

Commenting on the recent recommendations, Canadian Sikh Coalition spokesperson, Moninder S. Bual, voiced a sentiment of “justice delayed is justice denied.”

“Though the recommendations made by HRW are welcomed, they are not a solution. Even if India’s defunct judiciary acts on the suggestion, it would be little more than a band-aid on a massive wound. In a recent decision, the courts have decided to begin prosecuting low-level police officers while the National Human Rights Commission has ordered the state to provide meagre compensation to some of the families whose members disappeared. Despite these empty gestures, the Indian administration reveals it’s insincerity when it refuses to prosecute high-level officers like Kanwarpal Gill or Julio Ribeiro while other human rights offenders like Sumedh Saini are promoted to positions like DGP.”

He went on to say, “by HRW’s own admission in past reports, such killings occur under the directions and with the complicity of the highest levels of the Indian establishment. The solution must therefore also be along the same lines. The actions of the Indian state have made it amply clear that the lives of Sikhs and Punjabis are expendable in India today. The only way the life and liberty of the people can be protected and prosper is if the people of Punjab are able to exercise their right to self-determination and govern themselves in a sovereign state.”

Note: Sikh Siyasat has accessed the release of Human Rights Watch, referred above. It is reproduced here, as follows, for the knowledge of readers/visitors of Sikh Siyasat:

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India: Bring Charges for Newly Discovered Massacre of Sikhs
Strengthen Communal Violence Bill to Prevent Atrocities

APRIL 25, 2011

(New York) – The Indian government should ensure that those responsible for newly discovered massacres of Sikhs in 1984 are brought to justice, Human Rights Watch said today.

In January 2011, the burned and abandoned village of Hondh-Chillar, where 32 Sikhs were killed on November 2, 1984, was discovered in northern Haryana state. In March, the site of another forgotten killing of 17 people in nearby Pataudi, was discovered. Widespread anti-Sikh attacks in Haryana were part of broader revenge attacks for the assassination of then-prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards, following the bloody attack ordered by Gandhi on Sikh separatists at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

“The discovery of more Sikh massacre victims after nearly three decades shows the reluctance of successive Indian governments, despite numerous commissions of inquiry, to get to the truth and prosecute those responsible for the anti-Sikh violence,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

An estimated 3,000 Sikhs were killed in 1984, in mob attacks with the complicity of senior members of Gandhi’s then-ruling Congress party. Although there is evidence that at least some of the attacks were orchestrated by senior political figures, none have yet been convicted for the 1984 killings.

In 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acknowledged some of the failures. “I have no hesitation in apologizing not only to the Sikh community but to the whole nation, because what took place in 1984 is a negation of the concept of nationhood enshrined in our Constitution,” he said in Parliament. “The past is behind us. We cannot change it, but we can write the future. We must have the will power to write a better future for all of us.”

The Haryana state government established a judicial commission to look into the Hondh-Chillar killings. But successive government-appointed commissions have failed to ensure the proper prosecution of those responsible for instigating the riots.

“Announcing yet another judicial commission will be a step forward only if the Indian government finally uses the information provided and brings those responsible for mass atrocities to justice,” Ganguly said. “Sikhs have been waiting a long time for mass murderers to be held accountable, and these new cases would be a good place to start.”

To address widespread impunity for attacks on minorities, human rights organizations in India have been working with the government to draft and enact the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation) Bill. The bill provides for immediate intervention to prevent and control communal violence, speedy investigation and prosecution in such cases, and proper compensation and rehabilitation of victims.

Human Rights Watch urged the government to strengthen the bill by suspending the requirement for prior government permission to arrest and prosecute public servants; allowing prosecutions on the basis of command responsibility; and explicitly punishing “culpable inaction” by state authorities who fail to act to prevent communal violence.

The bill should specifically incorporate provisions to broaden the basis for prosecuting sexual violence against women during communal mob attacks. Since existing Indian law on rape focuses on questions of consent, it does not adequately address the coercive circumstances prevalent during communal violence, and offenses such as sexual mutilation are not adequately covered by the Indian Penal Code. The bill, while ensuring fair trial rights, should also include provisions for helping survivors of sexual offenses, including requiring adequate support services, physical safety and privacy protections.

“The Haryana massacre is a reminder that India needs a law that will provide maximum protection against orchestrated attacks on minorities,” Ganguly said. “The government should listen to all suggestions that could strengthen the communal violence bill so that these outrages never happen again.”

Source: Human Rights Watch (View source Page)

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Related Topics: 1984 Sikh Genocide, Canadian Sikh Coalition, Human Rights Watch, Indian State, Sikh Diaspora

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