India

The series of attacks, allegedly by armed groups, on unarmed civilians in Assam that has led to the death of at least 50 people and serious injuries to several others is highly condemnable and shows contempt for human lives. Authorities must step up security for civilians and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The Assam Police said the killings started at Sonitpur district in northern Assam where more than 23 people were killed on 23 December. Several others were killed and injured in Kokrajhar districts as well. Authorities have blamed members of the Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB-S) for the attacks.

The men, women and children killed and injured in these attacks were mostly members of the Adivasi community who traditionally work in the tea gardens of the region.

This region has witnessed several incidents of violence in the past. In July 2012, clashes broke out between Bodo and Muslim communities, killing over 75 people and displacing thousands from their homes. In May 2014, at least 27 civilians were killed in Kokrajhar and Baksa districts in attacks authorities blamed on NDFB-S. 

A man stands by the water’s edge, proffering a small, sad looking fish. A mud-stained canvas bag full of them hangs from his left shoulder. He tells me he has caught the fish fresh from the pond behind him and it costs just 10 Indian rupees.

We’re standing in stifling heat on the site of one of the world’s worst industrial disasters. On the night of 2 December, 1984, 80,000 pounds (36,300kg) of toxic gas leaked from Union Carbide’s pesticide factory in Bhopal, poisoning more than half a million people. It’s estimated that up to 10,000 died in the first three days as chemicals tore through their internal organs. Many choked to death on their own fluids, while thousands more have been suffering a slow and painful death since.

The man is fishing from one of Union Carbide’s abandoned evaporation ponds, used between 1970 and 1984 to remove water from hazardous waste. After the disaster, the plant was abandoned and never cleaned up. The hazardous chemical waste remains. The fish this man will take home to feed his family have been swimming, eating and breeding in it.

When we meet Shahzadi Bi in September, she is busy chaining herself to a fence. It’s not just any fence, but the one that surrounds the Chief Minister’s residence in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, where Bhopal is the capital. She is among a group of protesters demanding that the minister keep his promise of providing each survivor of the 1984 gas leak – the more than 570,000 who were exposed – 500,000 Indian rupees (US$8,170) as compensation.

Shahzadi, aged 60, lives in Blue Moon Colony, one of the 22 slums that surround the old pesticide factory formerly owned by Union Carbide India Limited. This area is blighted by water contamination, caused by chemicals from the abandoned factory site.

The disaster overturned her and her family’s lives. “Everyone has dreams,” she says. “I too had those. My dream was not about becoming a teacher or doctor… I wished that we would provide a good education to our children… but the gas leak shattered all these dreams.”

Survivors and activists have long criticized the Indian government for massively underestimating the number of dead and injured after the Bhopal gas leak. © PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP/Getty Images

India’s government has today agreed to increase a multi-million dollar compensation claim against Union Carbide over the 1984 gas leak from the company's pesticide plant that poisoned more than half a million people.

The government promised to revise the numbers of deaths and injuries for which it was seeking compensation in order to end a nil-by-mouth hunger strike by five women, who began their action on 10 November.

“This is a major victory for survivors of the 1984 gas leak, but subsequent generations of Bhopalis continue to suffer as chemicals abandoned by Union Carbide 30 years ago still leak into the groundwater today,” said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty International’s Director for Global Issues.

US chemical giant Dow has dodged justice again today by failing to comply with an Indian court summons over the catastrophic 1984 gas leak in Bhopal which left thousands dead and many more with chronic and debilitating illnesses, Amnesty International said.

“The Dow Chemical Company is once again thumbing its nose at the tens of thousands of victims and survivors of India’s worst industrial disaster. Sadly, this appalling lack of responsibility is what we’ve come to expect after years of Dow’s denials,” said Shailesh Rai, Programmes Director, Amnesty International India.

“The governments of India and the USA must do more to ensure that Dow complies with orders by the Indian courts.”

For 13 years, Dow has denied that it has any responsibility towards the victims and survivors of Bhopal. In a letter to Amnesty International earlier this year, a Dow official stated that efforts to involve the corporation in Indian court proceedings were “without merit” and tried to distance Dow from its wholly owned subsidiary Union Carbide Corporation (UCC).

The Army must cooperate fully with Jammu & Kashmir state police investigations into the shooting and killings of Faisal Yusuf Bhat and Mehrajuddin Dar, and injury of two others in Budgam, Kashmir on 3 November. If sufficient evidence is found, suspects must be prosecuted in a civilian court, and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act must not be used to shield soldiers from prosecution.

The Army said in a statement that it had received intelligence on 3 November that militants were travelling along the Nowgam-Pulwama highway in a white Maruti car. The Army set up barricades. At 5 pm, the Army stated, a white Maruti car refused to stop at the first two checkpoints, forcing army personnel to fire upon the vehicle at the third checkpoint, resulting in the death of two people, and serious injury of two others.

The J&K state police have filed a First Information Report and begun an investigation into the incident. 

The Army has also announced that it has established a Court of Inquiry – a military investigation - into the incident and that those found guilty will be "dealt with severely". 

The arrest and detention of a 25-year old man accused of sedition for allegedly disrespecting India’s national symbols is a reminder of how archaic laws continue to be used to curb free speech in India, Amnesty International India said today. 

On 20 August 2014, police in Kerala arrested Salman M. for allegedly making catcalls and not standing up when India’s national anthem was being played at a cinema two days earlier. He was accused of sedition, insulting the Indian national flag and Constitution, and preventing the singing of the national anthem. 

Salman M. was also accused under section 66A of India’s Information Technology Act for allegedly publishing abusive social media posts about Independence Day on 15 August. A Thiruvananthapuram court denied him bail on 25 August. He could face a life sentence if convicted. 

“A criminal charge for such conduct, even if some might regard it as offensive, is completely unwarranted,” said Shailesh Rai, Programmes Director at Amnesty International India. “Nobody should have to go to prison merely because they are accused of causing offense.”