The incoming authorities within the state of Gujarat should prioritize and uphold human rights for all together with non secular minorities and human rights defenders who proceed to face escalating repression and persecution, Amnesty International mentioned at present after the Bharatiya Janata Party received a majority within the state elections for the seventh consecutive time. They will govern the state for the following 5 years.

“Religious minorities in the state of Gujarat, particularly Muslims have been victimised through discriminatory laws and policies which violate international human rights treaties to which India is a state party. At the same time, human rights defenders who raise their voice to stand up for the rights of marginalised communities have been relentlessly hounded and punished. It’s time that the next government not only roll back these repressive laws and policies but also ensure those responsible for forced eviction and abuse of power are brought to justice. Victims must be provided with access to justice and effective remedies,” mentioned Aakar Patel, chair of board at Amnesty International India.

It’s time that the following authorities not solely roll again (the) repressive legal guidelines and insurance policies (however) additionally guarantee these accountable for pressured eviction and abuse of energy are dropped at justice.

Aakar Patel, chair of board at Amnesty International India

Demolition of Muslim-owned property

In April 2022, the native authorities focused, and demolished properties owned by Muslims in Khambat city of Gujarat after incidents of communal violence citing that they have been constructed “illegally”, forcibly displacing them and inflicting horrible trauma and struggling. Amnesty International investigated the demolitions over a interval of two months which included verifying the federal government notices and listening to the testimonies of these impacted, which recommend that the demolitions have been carried out with out following due course of.

We don’t have any hope from the police. They have been current when our properties have been demolished. (We) don’t need to take any motion as a result of (we) worry reprisal.

Ahmed Hafeez, Muslim proprietor of a demolished manufacturing facility

“We have no hope from the police. They were present when our properties were demolished. (We) don’t want to take any action because (we) fear reprisal,” mentioned Ahmed Hafeez* who’s struggling to rebuild his life after the demolition of his stone-cutting manufacturing facility. He instructed Amnesty International that the police officers hit him and the artisans working in his manufacturing facility to stop them from gathering their belongings earlier than they bulldozed the manufacturing facility.

Saad Ahmed*, proprietor of one other manufacturing facility which was demolished on 28 April instructed Amnesty International that about 19 factories have been demolished, all of which belonged to Muslims. He mentioned, “There are residential properties next to our factories that are owned by Hindus. They were left untouched”.

Kabir Khan*, one other Muslim proprietor of a demolished manufacturing facility which supported at the very least 80 folks mentioned, “I had taken all the requisite permissions from the local municipality and had been paying taxes and bills on time. On the evening of 26 April, after the factory was closed, the authorities pasted a notice on my factory’s wall which was backdated to 21 April. The notice required me to respond within seven days. However, the next morning, officials from Gujarat Electricity Board, district administration and local police barged into my factory and demolished it… My entire life’s hard work has been razed to the ground.”

Giving little discover or alternative to enterprise homeowners and households to take away their possessions and lack of any provide of different locations to conduct enterprise or compensation constitutes pressured eviction.

Aakar Patel

“Giving little notice or opportunity to business owners and families to remove their possessions and lack of any offer of alternative places to conduct business or compensation constitutes forced eviction. It is imperative that the incoming government conducts a prompt, thorough, independent, impartial and effective investigation into the cases of forced evictions and ensures that all those suspected to be responsible are brought to justice,” mentioned Aakar Patel.  

Barriers to the best to personal property

In 2019, the state authorities amended the 1991 Disturbed Areas Act which was initially meant to stop misery sale of property in communally delicate areas of Gujarat. The Act was amended in 2019 giving large powers to the manager heads of districts to inform a specific space as “disturbed” the place any sale of property can solely happen with their prior sanction. According to media studies, the discriminatory declaration of enormous areas as “disturbed” and the following harassment of Muslims wanting to purchase residential properties in these areas by Hindu teams has confined the minority Muslim group to separate, densely populated areas usually missing fundamental civic facilities and minimized their political illustration.

The 2019 modification violates the best to enough housing enshrined within the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to which India is a state occasion which incorporates accessibility, affordability, habitability, location, and cultural id as its key elements.

Barriers to the best to freedom of faith

The 2003 Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act was amended in 2021 successfully criminalising all inter-faith marriages within the guise of prohibiting pressured conversion by “allurement” and “temptation”. It allowed any blood relative of the ‘victim’, a lot of whom are largely Hindu ladies who marry outdoors their faith, to complain in opposition to such a wedding and widened the web of harassment by focusing on anybody who aided the wedding or supplied recommendation. Further, in absolute violation of the ideas of felony justice, it reversed the burden of proof by putting it on the individuals accused of inflicting a pressured conversion as an alternative of the prosecution. Even although the Gujarat High Court quickly stayed elements of the laws, that has not deterred the state from harassing many inter-faith {couples} and their households within the final one 12 months, in keeping with native media studies.

Religious discrimination by means of abuse of government powers

Between December 2016 and October 2022, the Central Ministry of Home Affairs issued orders empowering the manager heads of 9 districts within the state of Gujarat to grant citizenship to solely non-Muslim migrants from neighbouring international locations beneath the 1955 Citizenship Act. These notifications mirror the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that was handed in 2019 amidst widespread protests however is but to be applied at a nationwide stage attributable to lack of corresponding guidelines. However, the central authorities dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues to discriminate in opposition to minorities on non secular grounds in Gujarat which has additionally been ruled by the BJP for the final 27 years, by abusing its government powers.

These government orders are fully oblivious to the character and scale of persecution confronted by minorities within the neighbouring area and run afoul of India’s obligations beneath the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which India is a state occasion.

The mixed influence of all these legal guidelines, insurance policies and practices seems to quantity to a collective punishment, whereby the Muslim group as a complete is penalized within the state of Gujarat. 

Aakar Patel

“The combined impact of all these laws, policies and practices appears to amount to a collective punishment, whereby the Muslim community as a whole is penalized in the state of Gujarat. Such punitive actions are a serious violation of international human rights law and need to be reversed immediately,” mentioned Aakar Patel.

Crackdown on Human Rights Defenders

On 26 June 2022, the Gujarat police arrested famend human rights defender Teesta Setalvad and former Director General of Police RB Sreekumar in a direct reprisal for questioning the Gujarat authorities’s human rights document. Their detention got here a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by Teesta together with a 2002 Gujarat riot sufferer looking for investigation into the function of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was then the state’s Chief minister. In the previous, Teesta Setalvad has been routinely harassed, with authorities utilizing India’s overbroad and imprecise monetary legal guidelines together with the Foreign Regulation Contribution Act in what seems to be a reprisal for her work on offering authorized support to the 2002 riot victims.

On 25 September, the Gujarat Police detained award-winning human rights defender Sandeep Pandey and 6 others simply earlier than they have been scheduled to begin a rally to point out solidarity with gang-rape survivor Bilkis Bano whose 11 convicted rapists have been launched prematurely by the federal government. Five months pregnant on the time of the incident, Bilkis Bano’s seven relations have been killed together with her three-year-old daughter through the 2002 riots.

“The next government has a chance to break away from the past and start upholding the rights of religious minorities and human rights defenders and protecting them from years of abuse and demonization. The incoming new leadership must prioritise the human rights of everyone and take steps to reform legislations, policies, and practices to ensure that all the people of Gujarat can freely exercise their human rights,” mentioned Aakar Patel.

The incoming new management should prioritise
the human rights of everybody.

Aakar Patel

*names modified attributable to causes of privateness