India Human Rights

Human Rights Concerns

India's dynamic society and political system are juxtaposed by multiple serious human rights concerns. Among the gravest are unlawful killings, excessive use of police force, torture, violence against women, discrimination against Dalits, and severe and pervasive poverty. In many areas governmental mechanisms fail to protect civil and political rights and do not ensure justice for victims of human rights abuses.

Bomb attacks, including attacks by non-state actors, and armed conflict in various parts of the country kill hundreds of people a year. Civilians are often killed as police battle growing Maoist insurgencies in central and eastern states. High levels of violence continue among both security forces and armed opposition groups in the northeastern states of Assam, Tripura and Manipur.

About 300 million people, a quarter of the population, remain living in poverty. Communities in a number of states, including West Bengal, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Madya Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu continue to protest as their livelihoods are threatened by irrigation, mining, and business projects. Unlawful methods are often used to deal with such protests, and impunity for abuses is common.

In Jammu and Kashmir impunity for torture, deaths in custody, and unlawful killings continue for both state and non-state actors. In Gujurat, years after the violence of 2002 in which thousands of Muslims were attacked and more than 2,000 killed, justice continues to elude most victims.

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