Mobilenews24x7 Bureau
It must have come as an embarrassing moment when on March 20 the State Department of US came out with a list with significant “human rights abuse is India citing instances of alleged “unlawful and arbitrary, interference in privacy, o challenges to press freedom and violence that targets religious and ethnic minorities”
In the 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, released by the Joe Biden Administration, urged India to uphold human rights commitments and obligations and comes almost a year after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US was monitoring what he called a rise of human rights abuses by some government, police and prison officials in India.
Pointing at India
Acting Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour Erin Barclay said, “We have, and we will continue to strongly urge India to uphold its human rights obligations and commitments.”
Barclay added:”Not surprisingly, we also regularly meet with civil society both in the US and India to hear their perspectives and learn from their experiences, and we encourage the Government of India to consult with them as well.”
Journalists not spared
Moreover, the report said that significant human rights issues in India had included credible reports of the government or government agents undertaking extrajudicial killings, torture, cruel and inhuman treatment, and punishment by police and prison officials.
It also mentioned the situation of political prisoners and detainees and the unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists.
The report sheds light on a lack of accountability for official misconduct that persists through multiple layers of the government in India and contributes to widespread impunity.
The State Department also noted the presence of other significant human rights violations in 2022, which include unlawful and arbitrary killings, inhuman treatment and punishment dished out by authorities, alleged arbitrary arrest and detention, unlawful interference with privacy, restrictions on the freedom of speech, expression and media, and enforcement of criminal libel laws to curb expression, report agencies.
