The US State Department has released an annual report on the state of human rights in countries around the world. In this report, it has been said for India that ‘cases of human rights abuses have come to light and people of minority communities, critics of the government and journalists are being targeted’.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said that he was closely monitoring developments in India “including increasing human rights abuses in the country”. In the press conference in which Blinken had said this, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh were also present. However, on the issue of human rights, both the central ministers of India did not give any statement at that time.
This is an annual report coming from the US government, in which a detailed report is published about the condition of human rights in every country of the world. This report is for the year 2022.
The report reads, “Illegal, arbitrary killings by government agencies in India. Prisoners are treated in cruel and inhumane ways. Political prisoners are being arbitrarily detained, media Curbs are being imposed by the government, Journalists are being arrested and cases are being filed against them, Criminal cases are being filed or threatened with criminal cases to stop the expression of people. Mass communication is being disrupted by blocking the Internet.”
It has been told in the report that this year 2116 people died in judicial custody in India. Which is 12 percent more than the year 2020. The report said that most of the deaths were due to natural causes and most of the custodial deaths occurred in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau show that in the year 2021, 70 percent of the prisoners could not get bail for three months or more while waiting for the court trial.
