‘Significant Human Rights Issues’ In India, Including ‘Freedom Of Press': US Report

According to the report, the official misconduct was not held accountable at any level of government, which contributed to widespread impunity.

According to a recent report from the US state department, India has a number of "significant human rights issues," such as arbitrary and unlawful killings, freedom of the press, and violence against religious and ethnic minorities, reported news agency PTI.

According to the India section of the country report, official misconduct was not held accountable at any level of government, which contributed to widespread impunity. According to the report, a low number of convictions was caused by lax enforcement, a lack of trained police officers, and a court system that was overworked and lacked resources.

Similar State Department reports have previously been rejected by India. The Indian government has stated that the country has robust institutions to protect everyone's rights and well-established democratic practices.

The government has emphasized that various statutes in the Indian Constitution provide adequate safeguards for the protection of human rights.

According to the State Department, unlawful and arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings, will be among the most serious violations of human rights in India in 2022. Police and prison officials who use torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading methods of punishment; and harsh prison conditions that put life in danger.

Inconsistent capture and detainment, political detainees or prisoners, arbitrary or illegal invasion of privacy, violence or threats of violence, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, and the enforcement of or threat to enforce criminal libel laws to limit expression are examples of restrictions on freedom of expression and media are some of the country's other human rights violations.

It additionally specifies limitations on internet freedom, encroachment on the rights to peaceful assembly and association and harassment of human rights organisations both domestically and internationally; among India's serious violations of human rights.

Gender-based violence, including domestic and intimate partner violence, sexual violence, workplace violence, child, early, and forced marriage, femicide, and other forms of such violence, is not investigated or held accountable, among other issues. 

Crimes involve violence or the threat of violence against members of national, racial, and ethnic minority groups on the basis of their social status, sexual orientation, or religious affiliation.

"There were reports that government authorities accessed, collected, or used private communication arbitrarily or unlawfully or without appropriate legal authority and developed practices that allow for the arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, including the use of technology to arbitrarily or unlawfully surveil or interfere with the privacy of individuals,” it said.

The State Department said that citizens generally enjoyed the freedom of speech, but the government continued to restrict content based on broad public and national interest provisions, despite the fact that independent media were active and generally expressed a wide range of views.

The most recent edition of the annual report blames Russia and China, as well as Iran, North Korea, and Myanmar, for widespread violations of human rights.

Russia's full-scale battle against Ukraine starting in February 2022 has brought about the monstrous demise and obliteration, with reports of individuals from Russia's powers perpetrating atrocities and different abominations, including summary executions of citizens and terrible records of gender-based violence, including sexual brutality against women and kids, Blinken said in the report.

He stated that the country report in China's Xinjiang details the continuing genocide and crimes against humanity against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups.

Blinken said, "Democracy, human rights, and labour rights are mutually reinforcing, and support for democratic renewal is essential to promoting these rights," when he said that President Joe Biden will co-host the second Summit for Democracy on March 29 and 30 with the governments of Costa Rica, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, and the Republic of Zambia.

Delivered by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the yearly human rights reports of the State Department is a compulsory prerequisite of the US Congress giving subtleties of human rights status in nations across the world.