Overarching human rights concerns of an EU-India FTA https://thelondonstory.org/report/overarching-human-rights-concerns-of-an-eu-india-fta/
Rule of law
In Tata Trust’s Rule of Law Index 2020, India performs “moderately” in most categories, and
“worst” in the categories Order and Security and Civil Justice. Actors with ties to the Indian
government routinely receive favourable treatment during legal action, violating rule of law and
the principle of equality. The judiciary has been criticised for not adequately uphold constitutional
rights. Examples include
BJP lawmaker Kapil Mishra, against whom several complaints have been filed after an
inflammatory speech that may have contributed to violence that caused 53 deaths in February
2020, has not been prosecuted.
Research by Article14 from 2022 notes that for 1.5 years, there was no progress on six cases
of national importance in the Supreme Court, and 53 cases that required a wider review by a
constitution bench were kept pending.
Indian authorities were reportedly prevented from conducting an independent investigation
into corruption allegations in the context of the “Rafale jet deal”, in which India purchased
fighter jets from France in 2016 under suspicious circumstances. The Director of the Central
Bureau of Investigation was sent on forced leave after he reportedly launched an investigation
into the deal.
Freedom in the World 2020 report ranked India as one of the ‘Countries in the Spotlight’ for the
“deterioration of basic freedoms”. There are serious concerns about the systematic persecution of
human rights defenders, journalists, and environmental activists in India. Civil society therefore
cannot monitor the implementation of human rights laws and document the implications of a trade
agreement, contrary to the expectation by the European Economic and Social Committee.
In January 2023, the Central Government’s Home Ministry submitted an affidavit to the Delhi
High Court to prevent “private and extrajudicial commissions”, which refer to civil society
investigations into human rights violations, such as fact-finding reports and “people’s
tribunals”.
Between 2010-2020, 154 journalists were arrested, detained, interrogated, or harassed for
their work. Over 40% of incidents took place in 2020 itself. The government has imposed
travel bans on over 22 journalists, several of whom have faced raids, threats, and detention.
Human rights defenders, especially those working with indigenous peoples, are systematically
persecuted. In July 2021, 84-year-old Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy died in custody while
imprisoned without trial under sedition laws and being denied medical care. In late 2022, a
US-based forensic firm found that digital evidence had been planted on his computer before
his arrest.
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, India’s prime counter-terrorism law, is routinely used
against human rights defenders and trade unionists. In 2019, the Unlawful Activities
Prevention Act was amended to allow the executive to designate individuals as terrorists
without due process.