The Lok Sabha has debated and passed the Protection of Human Rights Amendment Bill 2019 last week, which the Narendra Modi government claims will strengthen the human rights in our country. Sadly, as I pointed out in the Lok Sabha, it falls considerably short of this objective – and this may be by design.
The bill was brought in to address international concerns about the government of India’s lack of compliance with the Paris Principles. The Paris Principles, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993, provide the foundational values and standards, which are required to be followed by human rights institutions across the globe. Our own Supreme Court declared the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) a “toothless tiger” (as I explained in the Lok Sabha). The Modi government brought in the bill ostensibly to remedy this, but chose to conduct a piecemeal cosmetic exercise, which ignores numerous recommendations to give teeth to the NHRC and state human rights commissions – and this will not restore its credibility.
It was rather ironic that the government was paying lip-service to human rights inside Parliament, while its instruments have been part of a systematic assault on the main human rights defenders in our country. The government’s distaste for human rights lawyers are well known, for none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 warned about the so-called “five-star activists.” After the formation of the NDA government in 2014, a cabal of ruling party politicians and their acolytes in the media started targeting some of our best-reputed activists as “anti-national” or as “Urban Naxals” in a manner which would put even the McCarthyism of the 1950s to shame.
One of the first victims of the vindictive state was advocate Sudha Bharadwaj, who gave up her US citizenship and decided to use the law as a tool of empowerment by working for the rights of workers and tribals in rural parts of Chhattisgarh. While Harvard Law School was honouring Bharadwaj for her courage and outstanding work, her own government had arrested her after accusing her of Naxal links.
Also read: Modi govt treating human rights organisations like criminal enterprises: Amnesty International
Two of the most highly respected defenders of human rights in our country, senior advocates Indira Jaising and Anand Grover, were raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 11 July 2019. Far from being ‘five-star’ activists, they gave up the opportunity to have a lucrative career as legal eagles, dedicating their lives instead to fighting for the letter and spirit of the Constitution of India.
When a Swiss pharmaceutical corporation tried to patent a life-saving drug for cancer patients, Anand Grover fought them tooth and nail before the Supreme Court and eventually won the case, allowing millions of cancer patients to access the drug at an affordable price. Grover spent 17 years fighting on behalf of the LGBTQ community against the homophobic Section 377 of the IPC, which eventually led to the Supreme Court decriminalising same-sex relations.
Indira Jaising, the first woman ASG of our country, is well known for her commitment to labour rights and women’s rights. She successfully argued the sexual harassment case against former Punjab DGP, K.P.S Gill; and represented educator and activist Mary Roy before the Supreme Court in a case that eventually led to equal property rights for Syrian Christian women.
Their organisation, the Lawyers’ Collective, is widely admired for its contribution to the rights of marginalised sections of society. In fact, a few days before an FIR was filed against the Lawyers’ Collective, they had successfully secured bail for Kargil war veteran Mohammed Sanaullah, who had wrongly been declared a foreigner in Assam. They have often challenged power structures directly linked to the ruling establishment, especially the ruling party, on behalf of the powerless.
Also read: Amit Shah’s ‘termite’ jibe: Human Rights Watch draws Nazi Germany, Rwanda parallel
Ever since 2014, this government has shamelessly used vague provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) to harass NGOs fighting for human rights. The first and most obvious victim was the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) led by Teesta Setalvad, given their record in fighting for the right of the Gujarat riots victims. As I pointed out in the Lok Sabha, while wilful defaulters fled our country with ease under the Modi government, the authorities illegally offloaded environmental activist Priya Pillai from a flight to prevent her from deposing before a group of British MPs about the activities of a UK company in India. They were forced to lift the travel ban after being rapped on the knuckles by the Delhi High Court.
In 2016, the Modi government tried to stifle the Lawyers’ Collective by suspending its license to receive foreign donations. In the same year, officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had inspected their records for nearly five days and they were authorised to seize any documents. The Lawyers’ Collective even submitted numerous documents as and when they were summoned by the MHA. Despite this, the CBI chose to raid their offices, in a blatant attempt to humiliate them – and they took the same documents the MHA had inspected more than three years ago!
While Indira Jaising and Anand Grover may be formidable achievers, they are elderly people being harassed by a vindictive government, which has no respect for human rights defenders. It is our duty as citizens to speak up for them – otherwise, as the German priest Martin Niemöller famously said, when they come for us, there will be no one left to speak for us. The International Commission of Jurists, the Supreme Court Bar Association, as well as many public intellectuals have raised concerns about the way Jaising and Grover are being treated.
Also read: First they came after JNU, now it’s human rights activists: Umar Khalid
Hans Litten, the famous German lawyer, spent many years fighting for the rights of workers during the reign of the Weimer Republic. He even challenged the rising (and rabble-rousing) politician Adolf Hitler in a trial in 1931. When Hitler eventually became the dictator of Germany, he went all out to take his revenge upon Litten.
That risk is always there. But we must speak up when a vindictive state takes its revenge on the conscience-keepers of our nation. It is well known that authoritarian governments are unable to stomach a powerful judiciary. An assault on lawyers of repute is an assault on our justice system and its larger values.
Let’s stand with our human rights defenders even if we don’t agree with the details of every case they take up. Their work keeps the flame of our Constitution alive. Right now, it is flickering.
The author is a Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram and former MoS for External Affairs and HRD. He served the UN as an administrator and peacekeeper for three decades. He studied History at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University and International Relations at Tufts University. Tharoor has authored 18 books, both fiction and non-fiction; his most recent book is The Paradoxical Prime Minister. Follow him on Twitter @ShashiTharoor. Views are personal.