Six Democratic Party lawmakers have urged US secretary of state Marco Rubio to raise during his upcoming India visit the “wrongful detention and excessive use of force by security forces” during the recent student protests.
They also want Rubio to flag, during his interactions with the Indian leadership, the Indian embassy’s surveillance of those participating in solidarity protests in the US.
The US lawmakers have urged the state department to assess whether India has engaged in a consistent pattern of acts of intimidation or harassment directed against individuals in the US.
The US lawmakers have requested to invoke Section 6 of the Arms Export Control Act that makes countries violating international norms or domestic protections in this regard ineligible for arms sales.
In a letter to Rubio, these six Democratic members of the US House of Representatives said: “We write with concern regarding a pattern of repression, wrongful detention and excessive use of force by security forces during student protests in Delhi and other localities across India.
“We further call attention to incidents of apparent surveillance and intimidation of individuals exercising their fundamental rights on United States soil by individuals in the employ of or acting in coordination with the Indian embassy and consulates.”
The three-page letter dwells in considerable detail on the NEET paper-leak protests of June-July and the recent mobilisation against the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls.
“Hundreds of people have been detained by police across India since October 10, including CJP movement leaders, protesters and journalists. In Mumbai, which we understand you will visit, more than 600 demonstrators were detained,” the letter says.
“Officials have also closed public spaces that have been used as protest sites and arrested people who attempt to enter them, placing undue burden on individuals attempting to exercise their fundamental rights.”
The signatories also referred to the Internet shutdown on October 10 near the protest sites.
On the surveillance of those expressing solidarity in the US with the protests in India, the letter notes that there have been reports about Indian diplomatic missions in the US hiring photographers to keep tabs on these protesters on American soil.
“Members of American human rights organisations and the Indian diaspora who joined protests in Washington D.C., Chicago and San Francisco in solidarity with the CJP student movement disclosed that they had been photographed by individuals who identified themselves as having been hired by the Indian embassy and Consulates General, respectively,” the letter says.
“These incidents raised particular alarm in light of India’s documented pattern of engaging in transnational repression, including through the weaponisation of consular services, harassment, intimidation, and physical violence.
“It is unacceptable that individuals on United States soil may not exercise their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, guaranteed to them by the US Constitution and international law, for fear of retribution by a foreign government.”
The six US legislators acknowledged the handful of steps the Indian government had taken to address the issue of exam paper leaks, including the removal of Dharmendra Pradhan as education minister.
They, however, urged Rubio to press India to initiate an independent and transparent investigation into the alleged human rights violations by law enforcement agencies, encourage the release of individuals detained for peaceful protest, and investigate reports of Indian diplomatic missions engaged in the surveillance of protesters in the US.
The signatories to the letter are James P. McGovern, Jesus G ‘Chuy’ Garcia, Rashida Tlaib, Pramila Jayapal, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Ilhan Omar.
Jayapal had earlier this week commented on the voter deletions through the SIR and the clampdown on protesters. India called her remarks uninformed, unwarranted and an “unacceptable interference in India’s internal affairs”.