Amnesty halts India operations alleging witch hunt by government

Amnesty International India (AII), a private human rights watchdog, on Tuesday said it is halting its operations in India and let go of its staff claiming that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) "froze" all its bank accounts earlier this month in what it called "incessant witch-hunt", remarks denied by the government.

Claiming that the release of reports on human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi riots last month provided "fresh impetus" to "harass and intimidate", the AII said it came to know about the freezing of accounts over "unfounded and motivated" allegations on September 10.

However, the Ministry of Home Affairs countered the AII saying its statement was "unfortunate, exaggerated and far from the truth" and human rights cannot be an "excuse for defying" the law of the land.

AII Executive Director Avinash Kumar said the "continuing crackdown" on the AII over the last two years and the latest action was not "accidental".

"The constant harassment by government agencies including the ED is a result of our unequivocal calls for transparency in the government, more recently for accountability of the Delhi police and the Government of India regarding the grave human rights violations in Delhi riots and Jammu and Kashmir. For a movement that has done nothing but raise its voices against injustice, this latest attack is akin to freezing dissent,” Kumar said in a statement.

The AII is facing multiple probes by the CBI and the ED, which accused it of violation of rules related to foreign funding and Foreign Exchange Management Act, charges which were denied by the international NGO.

An MHA statement said that AII had received permission to receive foreign funds only once in 2000. However, Amnesty UK remitted a large amount of money to four entities registered in India by classifying it as Foreign Direct Investment besides transferring money to AII without MHA approval.

It said the previous government had also rejected AII’s application for receiving foreign funds, leading to suspension of its India operations during that period as well. “This bipartisan and purely legal approach towards Amnesty, under different governments, makes it clear that the entire fault lies in the dubious processes adopted by Amnesty to secure funds for its operations," it said.

"All the glossy statements about humanitarian work and speaking truth to power are nothing but a ploy to divert attention from their activities which were in clear contravention of laid down Indian laws. Such statements are also an attempt to extraneously influence the course of investigations by multiple agencies into the irregularities and illegalities carried out over the last few years," it added.

For human rights work in India, the AII said it operates through a distinct model of raising funds domestically and more than four million Indians have supported AII's work in the last eight years and around one lakh Indians have made financial contributions.

"These contributions evidently cannot have any relation with the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. The fact that the Government is now portraying this lawful fundraising model as money-laundering is evidence that the overboard legal framework is maliciously activated when human rights activists and groups challenge the government’s grave inactions and excesses," it said.

It also said the action against AII and other "outspoken" human rights organisations, activists and human rights defenders was only an "extension of the various repressive policies and sustained assault" by the government on those who speak truth to power.

“Treating human rights organisations like criminal enterprises and dissenting individuals as criminals without any credible evidence is a deliberate attempt by the ED and government to stoke a climate of fear and dismantle the critical voices in India. It reeks of fear and repression, ignores the human cost to this crackdown particularly during a pandemic and violates people’s basic rights to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, and association guaranteed by the Indian Constitution and international human rights law," Kumar said.

In its statement, the AII also cited the actions taken by government agencies, including raids by CBI in October 2018 and November last year, freezing of bank accounts, Income Tax Department sending letters to over 30 "small regular donors" and denying permission to hold a press conference in Srinagar to release a report on misuse of Public Safety Act in Jammu and Kashmir.

Government officials claimed that there is no investigation against AII but a private company linked to the NGO that allegedly received Rs 51.72 crore between 2013-14 and 2018-19 from Amnesty International, UK in violation of FEMA. Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd and Indians for Amnesty International Trust were under the scanner in this regard and a show cause notice was issued to the former in this regard.

They claimed that no services were exported and the amount received was in contravention to the provisions of FEMA and PMLA. It led to the freezing of balance deposits in the bank accounts of the two firms, which challenged the ED order in Karnataka High Court but lost. "No other fund except for alleged export proceeds received from Amnesty International, UK is under investigation or freezing under the law," they said.