India Expects 'More Informed View' From UN Over Allegations Law Used To Stifle NGOs

NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st October, 2020) Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Anurag Srivastava said on Tuesday that New Delhi was expecting a more well-founded opinion from the United Nations after its Human Rights Office alleged that India had used legal regulations to punish non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that criticize the government.

Earlier in the day, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet released a statement urging the Indian government to protect the rights of NGOs and expressed her concerns over the fact that the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act was used by the Indian authorities to punish NGOs for human rights reporting critical of the government.

"We have seen some comments by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on an issue relating to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). India is a democratic polity based on the rule of law and an independent judiciary. The framing of laws is obviously a sovereign prerogative. Violations of law, however, cannot be condoned under the pretext of human rights. A more informed view of the matter was expected of a UN body," Srivastava wrote on Twitter.

According to Bachelet, many human rights activists and NGOs in India came under pressure over the past months for their involvement in December protests against the controversial citizenship law, as a result of which over 1,500 people had been arrested.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, passed by the Indian Parliament on December 11, seeks to streamline obtaining Indian citizenship for illegal immigrants of persecuted non-Muslim minorities from neighboring countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The law sparked violent protests across India for allegedly discriminating against Muslims, who form a 200-million-strong minority in the secular country.