Harvard Law Student Advocates for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch urge Indian National Human Rights Commission to investigate Punjab disappearances

First-ever international brief to NHRC demands that it respect international law and solicit evidence from victims and survivors in its investigations

The search for justice in Punjab receives welcome assistance today from abroad. The help comes in the form of a detailed, 81-page brief prepared by Harvard Law Student Advocates for Human Rights, in collaboration with the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch. The amicus brief, which will be filed today before the Indian National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), urges the Commission to investigate fully and in accordance with international law the 2,098 illegal cremations ordered by the State during Punjab's ten-year period of unrest.

To date, the NHRC has failed to examine vital relevant evidence in its investigations regarding the matter, the amicus petitioners argue.

"How can the NHRC claim to have responded to these massacres when it hasn't heard a single survivor or family member in seven years?" asks Jaskaran Kaur, the co-author of "Reduced to Ashes," a comprehensive report about forced disappearances in Punjab.

These illegal cremations first came to light in January 1995 when human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra released copies of official documents showing that security agencies in Punjab had secretly burned thousands of bodies after labeling them "unidentified/unclaimed." Khalra maintained that these bodies belonged to victims of state repression during the "dirty war" in Punjab. That September, security forces abducted Khalra from his home. He has not been seen since.

Although the NHRC inquiry is limited to three crematoria in Amritsar district, and to 2,098 illegal cremations, the actual scope of government human rights abuses in Punjab is far broader and extends to Punjab's other 16 districts. Of the 2,098 cremated bodies, only 582 have been identified. In 1999, the Punjab government offered compensation to 18 of the 88 families that had filed claims against it for the forced disappearances. The offer, which did not include any admission of responsibility or guilt, was rejected unanimously by the 18 plaintiffs.

The NHRC matter involves two cases currently before the Indian Supreme Court on large-scale cremations committed at the request of the Punjab Police between 1984 and 1994. As the body designated by the Indian Supreme Court in this matter, the NHRC has full investigative and adjudicatory powers. The amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief to be presented today argues that under international law, the NHRC must admit all relevant evidence.

According to the brief, in cases of forced disappearances the State enjoys an unfair advantage, as it can easily withhold, alter, or destroy crucial evidence. Citing case law from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights, and the United Nations Human Rights Committee, as well as various national human rights commissions and courts, the brief argues that all evidence regarding disappearances--even circumstantial and indirect evidence--must be admitted and fully weighed. This standard clearly includes testimony from interested parties such as relatives of the disappeared and witnesses.

"When state agents forcibly disappear people and cover up the crime, they shouldn't be able to hide behind the destruction of evidence and force the victims to prove all the details of the crime," says Ronja Bandyopadhyay of Harvard Law Student Advocates for Human Rights. "There is an international legal consensus in these human rights cases that requires more flexible rules of evidence. This is the precedent that the Indian National Human Rights Commission must follow. Remarkably, the NHRC to date has not only ignored this international standard, but has failed to seek relevant, available evidence."

For further information on human rights abuses in Punjab, please visit: www.punjabjustice.org