Aug
9
Updates on the Punjab illegal cremations matter
August 9, 2005 | Comments Off on Updates on the Punjab illegal cremations matter
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has held two hearings on the Punjab illegal cremations matter since its December 2004 hearing. The two hearings were held on May 5 and July 5. (Read the full article in the June Dispatch.)
During the May hearing, Justice Anand, Chairperson of the Commission, indicated that the July 5 hearing would conclude the case, despite the Commission’s failure to address thousands of claims of illegal cremations. The petitioners, The Committee for Information and Initiative in Punjab (CIIP), pointed to many unresolved issues that remain. These include: adjudicating the claims filed before the Commission after its public notice published in 2004; fully identifying over 1500 people on the partially identified and unidentified lists; investigating all claims to determine liability; and determining final compensation based on the full spectrum of rights violations suffered by the deceased victims and their surviving family members.
Further, Justice Anand stated that he saw no need to investigate each claim, even though the Punjab police and the petitioners have given drastically conflicting accounts on the fate and status of the victims.
The Commission did not conclude the case at the July 5 hearing, but it did repeat its intent to limit its investigation to the legality of the cremations, ignoring the question of whether the police had wrongfully killed those cremated.
The Commission is trying to reduce the case to determining whether the cremation itself was conducted according to police rules, ignoring the foundational question of whether security forces violated the individual’s right to life.
In the eight years that the case has been before the Commission, the Commission has not heard the testimony of a single survivor. It has not found a single security officer responsible for the thousands of disappearances and extrajudicial execution leading to the illegal cremations. Instead, the Commission has repeatedly narrowed its scope, thus failing to fulfil its original mandate.
For example, despite having solicited claims from the public last year, the Commission has not adjudicated a single claim. The Commission has also twice tried to offer a small fraction of the survivors an arbitrary award of compensation, without any relation to their loss or harms suffered, or any admission of liability or wrongdoing for violations of the rights to life and liberty.
Despite its record of ineffectivenss, the Commission has the full power to remedy the human rights violations of the illegal cremations matter, as it is acting in this case with all of the Supreme Court’s remedial powers. Moreover, this case has the potential to have a precedential effect on other cases of human rights violations in India.
Also featured in the June dispatch is the study organized by ENSAAF.
In late May and early June, ENSAAF organized a study by six health professionals from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Bellevue/NYU Program for Surviviors of Torture (Bellevue). The study assessed the physical and psychological impact of human rights violations on families of victims of disappearances in Punjab. Over ten days, the team interviewed 130 families in Amritsar who are part of the Punjab illegal cremations case brfore the NHRC.
ENSAAF solicited the study by PHR and Bellevue in 2004, and consulted with the research team in the US for one year prior to the study by providing guidance and background on the research feasability and leagal proceedings. ENSAAF also hired three fieldworkers in Punjab to organize the logistics of the study. These workers visited each of the families randomly selected from the sample, explained the purpose of the study to them, and solicited their participation.
PHR and Bellevue’s report is expected to be completed by the end of the summer, and will be submitted to the NHRC.
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