Int’l experts condemn prosecution of Indian Muslims

A panel of three renowned international rights experts: Sonja Biserko, Serbian campaigner for human rights, Marzuki Darusman, former Attorney general of Indonesia, Stephen Rapp, American lawyer have released, in late June, their report on prosecution of Indian Muslims.

The Panel found that a wide range of preliminary rights of the Muslim community have been violated by Indian authorities. Based on the documents the federal and provincial authorities have followed behaviors which directly targeted Muslims or inappropriately affected them.

In regards to the violations by non-state agents, Indian government has not taken the necessary measures to prevent the perpetrators or to probe into their misbehaviors.

The panel also found that some cases among these violations of human rights might amount to crime against humanity, war crimes and provocation for genocide.

The Panel was launched to probe into the documents and study if the necessary information for independent international investigations on the prosecution of Indian Muslims were enough.

The panel studied the credited references including reports by independent media, civil society organizations and academic institutions to achieve information.

The Panel of international lawyers has found credited documents that the first rights of Muslims are violated across India particularly in Assam, Delhi, Jamu and Kashmir and also Uttar Pradesh. These cases include arbitrary deprivation of life, arbitrary detention, merciless, inhumane and humiliating torture, gender-based violence and discrimination, violation of freedom of religion, freedom of expression and also violation of economic, social and cultural rights.

The panel announced that crackdown of the protests against citizenship law (December 2019- June 2020) in Uttar Pradesh and crackdown of human rights advocates, journalists and activists in Jamu and Kashmir have all led to massive violation of Muslim rights.

The international panel has also announced that the killing and torture of civilians in armed conflicts in Jamu and Kashmir might amount to war crime.

Eventually the panel announced that some public speeches delivered by renowned political and religious leaders in Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh in December 2019 to April 2022 which have persuaded the audience to kill and rape Muslim women could be an explicit provocation for committing genocide.

The panel called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to launch an independent fact-finding institute to probe into violation of human rights in India. It also urged the Indian government to reform the 2019 citizenship law, eliminate the discriminatory laws and make sure on efficient, independent and impartial investigation on crimes against Muslims in India.

The Panel finally called on the social media to take preventive steps against hate speech and launch a preliminary warning system to protect the minorities.