Amnesty International has referred to as on Indian authorities to instantly halt the “unlawful” demolitions of Muslim properties, because it launched two new reviews describing the concentrating on of houses, companies and locations of worship throughout a number of states belonging to the minority neighborhood.
Calling the demolitions a type of extra-judicial punishment, the rights group demanded enough compensation to all these affected by the demolitions which have rendered a whole bunch of individuals, most of them Muslims, homeless and their livelihoods destroyed.
The London-based rights group additionally referred to as on the JCB construction-equipment firm, whose bulldozers have been extensively used within the “punitive” demolitions, to “publicly condemn the use of its machinery to commit human rights violations”.
Here are the details of the reviews.
What do the reviews say about bulldozer politics in India?
The two reviews, titled ‘Bulldozer Injustice in India’ and ‘JCB’s Role and Responsibility in Bulldozer Injustice in India’, doc demolitions of no less than 128 properties between April and June 2022. Amnesty International says the demolitions carried out by bulldozers have rendered no less than 617 individuals both homeless or destroyed their livelihoods.
It says authorities in 5 states – Assam, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi – carried out demolitions as a “punishment” following episodes of non secular violence or protest by Muslims towards discriminatory authorities insurance policies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been accused of operating anti-Muslim rhetoric, guidelines in 4 out of the 5 states.
“The unlawful demolition of Muslim properties by the Indian authorities, peddled as ‘bulldozer justice’ by political leaders and media, is cruel and appalling … They are destroying families – and must stop immediately,” stated Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary-general, in an announcement on Wednesday.
“The authorities have repeatedly undermined the rule of law, destroying homes, businesses or places of worship, through targeted campaigns of hate, harassment, violence and the weaponisation of JCB bulldozers. These human rights abuses must be urgently addressed.”
Last month, Muslim houses and properties had been demolished by bulldozers within the monetary hub of Mumbai after communal violence flared within the wake of the inauguration of the Ram temple by Modi in Ayodhya metropolis in northern Uttar Pradesh. The temple was constructed on the place the place the Sixteenth-century Babri mosque stood till 1992, when Hindu mobs demolished it.
Last yr, greater than 300 Muslim properties had been demolished after communal violence on the outskirts of the Indian capital, New Delhi. In 2021, a 100-year-old mosque was demolished in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district, whereas in 2023, a Sixteenth-century mosque was razed in Prayagraj metropolis, additionally in Uttar Pradesh, below a highway widening challenge.
Analysts say bulldozers have come to symbolise the oppression of Muslims in India, significantly after Yogi Adityanath – the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, recognized for his anti-Muslim bigotry – began the coverage of destroying properties of these accused of crimes to dispense immediate justice. But authorized consultants say due course of is the most important casualty of this new phenomenon common among the many Hindu far proper.
Since Modi took over as prime minister in 2014, assaults towards Muslims and their livelihood have elevated, with dozens of Muslims lynched over cow smuggling allegations.
What has the BJP authorities stated?
BJP leaders extensively have fun the demolitions – a lot in order that bulldozers have featured in election campaigning of the ruling get together candidates. They declare that the demolition workouts are towards encroachment and goal buildings owned by criminals or gangsters.
Authorities have denied that the Muslim neighborhood was being focused.
BJP spokesperson Raman Malik informed Al Jazeera within the wake of demolitions in August that bulldozing is just executed to take away unlawful encroachments. But rights teams identified that overwhelmingly, Muslim properties had been the goal.
Is the bulldozing authorized?
Civil society members, activists, and opposition politicians imagine that destroying buildings is a deliberate type of focused violence towards minority communities equivalent to Muslims.
Brinda Karat from the Communist Party of India opposed the demolitions in Delhi, saying the bulldozers are used to intentionally goal Muslims below the guise of eradicating encroachments.
Amnesty in its report stated that the demolitions had been carried out with out following due course of. Occupants of buildings weren’t warned previous to demolitions or given sufficient time to depart their properties and salvage their belongings. Amnesty interviewed 75 demolition survivors. Among them, solely six obtained any type of prior discover from the authorities.
“The issue also arises whether the buildings belonging to a particular community are being brought down under the guise of [a] law and order problem and an exercise of ethnic cleansing is being conducted by the state,” the Punjab and Haryana High Court had stated within the wake of demolition in Nuh on the outskirts of New Delhi.
The courtroom additionally established that due authorized processes weren’t carried out earlier than the demolition drive. Prior notices had been additionally not issued to the individuals who misplaced their property.
The Amnesty report stated that India is a state get together to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), below which it’s obliged to respect and fulfil the suitable to enough residing, “which includes the right to adequate housing, the right to work, and the right to social security”.
Is the bulldozer firm, JCB, accountable?
Bulldozers manufactured by the United Kingdom-based Joseph Cyril Bamford Excavators (JCB) are generally used to hold out these demolitions, Amnesty discovered.
The report added that JCB bulldozers are such a conspicuous a part of demolitions in India that “JCB” and “bulldozer” are used interchangeably. The punitive bulldozing utilizing JCB’s equipment is lauded amongst BJP leaders. BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao referred to as JCB “Jihadi Control Board” in April 2022 in a now-deleted X publish.
“Under international standards, JCB is responsible for addressing what third-party buyers do with its equipment. The company must stop looking away as JCB machines are used to target and punish the Muslim community… JCB cannot continue to evade responsibility while its machines are repeatedly used to inflict human rights abuses,” stated Amnesty’s Callamard. “The company must publicly condemn the use of its machinery to commit human rights violations.”
Amnesty cited the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which state companies are accountable for respecting human rights and may keep away from contributing to human rights violations. The report stated that JCB is accountable for figuring out whether or not its equipment was used for punitive demolitions and including clauses to its gross sales contracts that mitigate human rights violations.
In response to Amnesty’s message to JCB, a authorized agency appearing on behalf of the corporate offered a number of arguments to distance JCB from the human rights violations in India.
The agency stated that there isn’t a direct hyperlink between JCB and the alleged human rights violations, including that the majority of its equipment is offered by JCB India by means of impartial third-party sellers.
The authorized agency additionally stated that JCB cannot management the usage of its merchandise as soon as offered to prospects and that JCB doesn’t have any leverage over those that use its merchandise or its dealership community.
This is just not the primary time Amnesty has referred to as out JCB’s complicity in human rights violations. In November 2021, one other Amnesty report confirmed dozens of particular incidents throughout which Israeli authorities used JCB equipment to demolish residential and farm buildings belonging to Palestinians. JCB denied promoting any equipment to the Israeli authorities or the contractors finishing up demolitions in Palestine.
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