The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday took suo motu cognisance of Amnesty International shutting its India operations due to an alleged “witch-hunt” of rights’ organisations by the government and ordered that a notice be issued to the Union Home Secretary.
The comments of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) about the allegations levelled by Amnesty were sought within six weeks, a statement said. Amnesty had said in a statement on Tuesday that it had stopped all its operations after its bank accounts were frozen.
“It is alleged that this is the latest in the incessant witch-hunt of human rights organisations by the government of India over unfounded and motivated allegations,” the statement said.
The MHA had responded by saying that Amnesty’s stand was “unfortunate” and “exaggerated”.
“The organisation has been accused of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) violations, and ‘interference in domestic police debates’ despite being funded by foreign donations. The rights group has reportedly denied the financial violations charges and has stated that they have been in full compliance with all laws,” the NHRC stated.
Amnesty also said that the harassment by the government was due to its calls for transparency and accountability with regard to the Delhi police in the case of the February riots, and with regard to the government in case of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Amnesty International is a reputed non-governmental organisation raising its voice globally whenever there is an incident of violation of human rights of the people. The allegations levelled by the organisation are serious in nature and have been strongly answered by the government agency. Any kind of difference of opinion may be a subject of investigation and decision by the competent court. The Commission finds it necessary to go through the matter, analyse the facts and reach a conclusion in the interest of human rights friendly environment in the country,” the NHRC said.
