BBC News – Do India’s political parties condone corruption?

Soutik Biswas, Delhi correspondent.

Friday 25 January 2013. A panel reviewing India’s laws on sex crimes after the fatal gang rape of a student has highlighted the problem of criminalisation of politics and asked lawmakers facing severe charges to voluntarily quit as a mark of respect to the parliament and the constitution.

Last year, India’s most respected election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms informed us that nearly a third of MPs – 158 of 543 – in the parliament faced criminal charges.

New research has now thrown up more bad news.

After examining affidavits filed by candidates to the Election Commission at the time of contesting elections, the watchdog found that a third of all lawmakers at the centre and all states – or 1,448 of 4,835 – faced criminal charges.
A total of 641 declared serious criminal cases like rape, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, robbery and extortion, among other things.

The watchdog also found that 98 candidates facing corruption cases were given tickets by various political parties during general and state elections in the last five years. Thirty-six of them have won the polls. They include seven MPs and 29 state legislators.

All parties appear to be responsible for this disturbing state of affairs.

The Congress party, which has promised people stronger anti-corruption laws, actually gave tickets to 24 candidates facing corruption charges in general and state assembly polls in the last five years.

The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gave tickets to five such candidates. Six key regional parties gave away tickets to 35 such candidates.

During the last general elections alone, 15 candidates with corruption cases against them were given tickets by political parties – the Congress party awarded four such candidates.

There’s more.

A total of 80 candidates facing corruption charges have been given tickets by political parties in elections to state assemblies in the last five years. Twenty-nine of them have won the elections and are currently serving as lawmakers.

The majority (eight) belong to the Congress party, and most of the winners (seven) are from the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

All this makes for very depressing news. It also makes many wonder whether India’s political parties can ever be serious about fighting corruption when they condone it so openly.

When will they stop giving tickets to candidates facing criminal and corruption charges? What about “fast-tracking” the cases against MPs and legislators facing these charges? The political class is totally silent on these matters.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21175531

BBC News – Indian officials accused of Kashmir rights abuses

Thursday, 6 December 2012. More than 500 members of India’s armed forces are accused of human rights abuses in a damning report on conflict in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The alleged offences detailed in the report by a leading human rights group include custody deaths, abduction, torture and rape.

Army, police and paramilitary officers of senior rank are among those named. There was no immediate army response.

Thousands have died in a separatist insurgency in Kashmir since 1989.

The disputed region, claimed by both India and Pakistan, has seen violence fall in recent years.

But tens of thousands of Indian army and paramilitary troops continue to be deployed in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley.

The report’s authors say they gathered information from the police and under India’s new freedom of information laws, as well from interviews with families and others.

An army spokesman said he was not aware of the report.

“If they have sent it to the defence ministry we have not received it so far. We can respond after proper perusal of the document,” Lt-Colonel H S Brar, who speaks for the Indian army’s Kashmir-based 15 corps, told the BBC.

Perpetual wait for justice’

The 354-page report was compiled by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) and the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir (IPTK).

It has analysed 214 cases of abuse and highlighted the role of officials in the killing of nearly 70 people and the disappearances of 8,000 people over two decades, the BBC’s Riyaz Masroor in Srinagar says.

The report names military officials of very senior rank as “perpetrators”, our correspondent reports.

Releasing the report in Srinagar, Kartik Murukutla, a human rights lawyer and one of the authors of the report, said India’s priority in Kashmir was to control the territory, not pursue justice.

“For the victims, the wait for proper justice seems perpetual. In its approach to justice, the Indian state has not moved beyond cash relief or the promise of re-investigation.

“The state has wilfully lowered the standard of justice as well as the crimes perpetrated,” he said.

The report says that despite the evidence, many of those accused of brutality were decorated for their role in fighting the separatist insurgency.

“While we believe in fixing the responsibility on the individuals, we have highlighted the culpability of the Indian state in shielding the perpetrators,” the APDP chief Parvez Imroz said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20624798

The Tribune – Fast track trial in crimes against women: High Court to Punjab, Haryana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 18. The disposal of cases of heinous crimes against women such as rape and dowry deaths in the courts of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh has come under the scanner of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

In a directive to the district and sessions judges of the two states and Union Territory, the high court asked them to ensure expeditious disposal of the trial of heinous crimes against women under sections 376 (rape) and 304-B (dowry death) of the Indian Penal Code.

The Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has also asked District and Sessions Judges to send a monthly progress report of such cases by the 10th of every month, a Haryana Government spokesman said here today.

With egg on its face following the spurt in crime cases, especially incidents of rape, the Haryana Government had on October 4 unveiled a multi-pronged strategy to tackle crime against women. Fast-tracking and monitoring of all cases of heinous crimes against women under trial in various courts in Haryana were the measures requested by the Haryana Government to the high court.

Acting on Haryana’s request, the high court went a step further and brought Punjab and Chandigarh under the purview of fast-tracking of cases of crime against women.

The Haryana Government has already constituted a three-member monitoring committee at the district level to investigate and monitor cases of crime against women and ensure speedy trial. The committees, comprising the District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police and the District Attorney, will monitor such cases fortnightly, which will go a long way in speeding up the disposal of crime cases against women.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121019/main1.htm

The Tribune – Women issues in Panjab

Crackdown on female foeticide

The government had success in managing to add 17 girls to the sex ratio of 876 girls per 1,000 boys recorded in 2001, to make it 893. However, this figure is still well short of the national average of 940. The only consolation is that Punjab figures higher in gender ratio than the neighbouring Haryana (877) and far higher than Chandigarh (818), especially since the latter has the country’s eighth highest literacy rate, as compared to Punjab’s 17th position.

To its credit, the SAD government was more stringent in enforcing the PNDT Act compared to the preceding Congress government. Prior to 2007, it was not difficult for a pregnant woman to get her foetus aborted after getting the gender determined, usually done after 14 weeks of pregnancy. However, soon after talking over the reins in 2007, the government tightened the noose around medical establishments involved in this practice, making it difficult to get a foetus aborted after 10 weeks of pregnancy. This is believed to have contributed greatly to improving the sex ratio.

The stringent measures included a series of periodic crackdowns. During its tenure, the government suspended licences of 322 out of a total 1,296 ultrasound scan centres in the state, cancelled licences of 34 others and initiated 24 court cases, according to state Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Satish Chandra.

As even the improved gender ratio shows, plenty more remains to be done in this direction.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120110/punjab.htm#12

Crime against women continued unabated

Looking at the crime statistics, it does not seem the state government was able to substantially improve the safety environment for women. Dowry deaths, rape, cruelty by a relative or husband, molestation, female foeticide, and desertion of wives by NRIs continued.

The high incidence of crime against women was serious enough for Member Secretary of the Punjab State Women’s Commission Sarvesh Kaushal to write to the state Chief Secretary in 2009, saying, “Despite the Domestic Violence Act already operational, such insensitivity to the cause of women is baffling. The same is also true of the other burning issue of female foeticide, in which only 11 cases have been registered in five months.”

He had cited figures for the first five months of 2009 (January to May), during which 153 women were raped, 222 kidnapped and another 130 molested. This was in addition to 70 women who were murdered, 55 who were driven to commit suicide and 39 who lost their lives for inability to “satisfy” their in-laws’ dowry demand.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120110/punjab.htm#13

Not until society pitches in

One hurdle in improving women’s lot is their status in the larger society, which continues to deny equality.

Gurdev Kaur Sangha, Chairperson of the Punjab State Women’s Commission, said: “We have taken up the issue of women’s rights violations and addressed a number of cases related to domestic violence. Unfortunately, despite all the government has done to empower women, the fact remains they are still facing discrimination at the hands of their family and society at large,” irrespective of whether they were rich or poor. However, she added the middle class were treating women relatively better.

Men used their clout and money and did not even allow women to get justice. “Just two decades ago, I used to think women would be treated well by their in-laws with women’s literacy on the rise. I believed educated mothers-in-law would treat their daughters-in-law better. Unfortunately, it has only led to the demand for gold in dowry being upgraded to diamonds,” Sangha said. No government could do much if the mindset did not change, she added.

Given the environment against women, Dr Rainuka Dagar, Director (Research), Gender Studies Unit, Institute for Development and Communication (IDC), Chandigarh, said the Punjab government deserved credit for implementing the PNDT Act. “In 1901, the state had a sex ratio of 874 women per 1,000 men. Having a history of skewed gender ratio, the improvement in Punjab is rather encouraging. It is not easy to change the mindset of the people. I am glad political leaders have made a move and brought the issue to the forefront.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120110/punjab.htm#14