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Restrain officials from using force unnecessarily during pandemic: CSCHR to Manipur govt

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The coalition expressed solidarity to victims of torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in the midst of the ongoing repression and curfew imposed in the name of COVID pandemic public health regulation

TFM Desk

On the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights in Manipur and the United Nations (CSCHR) expressed solidarity to victims of torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in the midst of the ongoing repression and curfew imposed in the name of COVID pandemic public health regulation.

The coalition demanded the government of Manipur to restrain its law enforcement officials from use of force unnecessarily or disproportionately and to desist from opportunistic politically motivated arbitrary arrest of people during this desperate time, whether it is for breaking curfews or other confinement measures or expressing themselves in the social media.

“It is a shame that at a time when people and the government should be working in close cooperation to fight the dreaded corona virus, repression in the form of arbitrarily detention, torture and extrajudicial execution by abusing the draconian provision of Disaster Management Act, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, National Security Act, Armed Forces Special Powers Act etc. is reported with depressing regularity in Manipur,” said CSCHR in a statement issued by its convenor Phulindro Konsam on Saturday.

Internationally, Government of India (GoI) has committed to ratify United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) several times in the Universal Periodic Reviews as well as in its own voluntary pledges while seeking membership to the UN Human Rights Council. But it has procrastinated doing so for 24 years, it added.

“The silence of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) on this critical human rights issue is also very loud”.

The statement mentioned that last year CSCHR formally petitioned the MHRC, registered as case no. 85 of 2020, to:

·         Ascertain the position of Government of Manipur (GoM) in the issue of ratification of UNCAT.

·         Recommend GoM to take a firm stand on the urgent need to ratify the UNCAT and promptly communicate the same to the Union Home Ministry.

·         Recommend to GoI to ratify the UNCAT without any further delay.

The civil society coalition said that the MHRC, in its proceedings on June 25, 2020, instructed the special secretary (Home), GoM to report on the steps taken by the GoM regarding ratification of UNCAT on or before July 13, 2020. Unfortunately even as one full year has passed, no response has been communicated, it lamented.

CSCHR reiterated its repeated call to ratify UNCAT and come out with an effective Anti-Torture domestic legislation in line with the recommendation of the Supreme Court and the Law Commission of India. 

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