UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Human Rights Committee has expressed serious concerns about the condition of religious minorities in India, including Muslims, Christians and lower castes.
The UN Human Rights Committee in its latest report has also voiced serious concern over the implementation of the so-called anti-terrorism laws in some districts of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), Assam and Manipur.
The committee demanded that India should immediately end discriminatory laws. It said India should also provide adequate training to its civil servants, law enforcement agencies, judiciary and community leaders.
It added India’s anti-terrorism laws and the Special Powers Act of Armed Forces are in conflict with international law.
UN Human Rights Committee noted that decades of anti-terror laws in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and Manipur have led to widespread human rights violations.
It said unlawful killings, detentions, sexual violence, forced disappearances and torture are common in IIOJK, Assam and Manipur.
The Human Rights Committee has called on India to bring its anti-terrorism laws into line with international norms and standards.
It said India must ensure that counter-terrorism laws must be applied in an appropriate and judicial manner.
It also asked India to establish a mechanism to initiate a process to acknowledge responsibility and ascertain the truth regarding human rights violations in disturbed areas.
