Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA

RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE

Research Response Number: IND31878 Country: Date: 14 June 2007

Keywords: India – – Dalits – Police Corruption – Internal Relocation

This response was prepared by the Country Research Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Questions

1. Please provide information on the treatment of Dalits in Haryana. 2. Please provide information on police corruption in Haryana. 3. Please provide information regarding any restriction of movement on Dalits from Haryana.

RESPONSE

1. Please provide information on the treatment of Dalits in Haryana.

The section on Haryana in the Asian Centre for Human Rights report on India for 2007 indicates that “[r]uled by the Indian National Congress, Haryana remained a lawless State especially with regard to the Dalits. Their rights continued to be violated by upper caste people in alleged connivance with the police.” According to the report:

The Dalits faced systematic violations of their rights. The National Crime Records Bureau recorded 288 cases of atrocities against the Dalits in 2005. These included 10 murder cases, 35 rape cases, 15 kidnapping cases, 5 arson cases, 52 hurt cases, and 73 cases under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act etc.

The Haryana Government announced a policy to provide compensation to Dalit victims of atrocities by the upper castes. As per the policy, the State Government would pay a compensation of about Rs 2 lakh in case of death and in some related cases the amount could be around Rs 1 lakh provided the victim had no source of income. However, the benefit would be applicable only if a case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on the complaint of the victim and the financial aid would be released after the police filed the challan in court in connection with the case. The Faridabad district administration reportedly sanctioned about Rs 2.5 lakh as compensation during the financial year of 2005-06.

The report includes the following examples of violence against Dalit women and social ostracism of Dalits in Haryana during 2006:

a. Violence against Dalit women

The Dalit women were specifically targeted. On the night of 3 January 2006, a 15-year-old handicapped Dalit girl, resident of Jhatauli village of Pataudi, was allegedly gang raped by three men in a cab and then by a truck driver at Manesar in Gurgaon district…

On the night of 4 February 2006, a 13-year-old Dalit girl of Kailana village under the Ganaur police station was found murdered after rape when she had gone to the fields. A postmortem examination of the deceased conducted in the Civil Hosptal [sic] reportedly confirmed rape…

On 14 February 2006, 10 Dalits including women were injured when a mob of about 50 upper caste men, mostly Rodhs, armed with sharp-edged weapons, including axes and swords allegedly attacked the Dalits of Ravidas Colony at Mehmadpur village in …

b. Social ostracisation

Failure to take action by the police and administration also forced Dalits to flee their villages. On 22 February 2006, more than 200 members of 31 Dalit families of Farmana village in Sonepat district fled their village to save their lives following alleged attack by upper caste people led by sarpanch (village head) of the village identified as Sunil due to a dispute over construction of a boundary wall around a temple. The Dalits had to spend the night camping at various temples, dharamshalas and schools in and around Khokhrakot locality of Rohtak… The police registered a case against five persons including the Sarpanch Sunil on the charge of harassing Dalits and demolishing their houses on 14 and 15 February 2006…

In July 2006, a Dalit family of Dhingsara village in Fatehabad district was forced to take shelter at a nearby village following threats by some upper-caste families. Complaints to the police and district administration had fallen on deaf ears…

On 1 September 2006, over two dozen Dalit families were forced to flee their village after about 100 upper caste youth attacked them with sharp-edged weapons and ransacked their houses at Kila Jafargarh in Jind district. Several Dalits were injured, 11 of them seriously…

On 6 December 2006, the police registered cases against 10 persons in a three-month-old case pertaining to the families of two Dalit brothers, Ramesh Kumar and Kalu Das of Lisan village under Khol police station of Rewari district. The brothers had to leave the village in the first week of September 2006 after being tortured and threatened by men of the upper caste in alleged connivance with the police. Assistant Sub-Inspector Ram Swarup of the Dahina police post, where Kalu Das had been forcibly taken by his alleged torturers on the night of 2 September 2006, was reportedly transferred (Asian Centre for Human Rights 2007, ‘India Human Rights Report 2007: Haryana’, ACHR website, May, Section 4 http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/AR07/haryana.htm - Accessed 1 June 2007 – Attachment 1).

An article dated 14 March 2007 in The Hindu indicates that “[i]n Haryana, violence against Dalits is a constant; it is quite often brutally physical but it is ever present as a state of mind.” It is stated in the article that:

RAJPUTS TORCH Dalit houses in Salwan, Karnal (March 2007); Jat mobs loot and burn the Balmiki basti in Gohana, Sonepat (August 2005); forward caste men lynch five Dalits in a police chowki in Duleena, Jhajjar (October 2002). In Haryana, violence against Dalits is a constant; it is quite often brutally physical but it is ever present as a state of mind.

For every Gohana, every Jhajjar that violently spills on to the television screens, there is another unpublicised, underplayed Dalit story in Haryana. In the fast-paced, breaking-news times we live in, where tragedy is measured by how visually sensational it is, where suffering must be demonstrably overt, the understated distress of the Dalit residents of Bibipur Brahmadan must seem unworthy of attention. Similarly, there are countless other instances where the injury is to the soul, to the dignity and self-respect of a whole community. The perpetrators of this sub-textual violence are as much the forward castes as the network of administrators whose job it is ostensibly to protect the vulnerable.

...Institutional prejudice has long been a fact of Dalit everyday life. Haryana’s officialdom may wear its prejudice like a proud badge, but it is not as if the bureaucracy elsewhere is socially enlightened. Modern India’s founding fathers banished untouchability, writing equality and egalitarianism into a Constitution applauded as one of the finest in the world. Fifty-seven years on, India’s gargantuan institutional framework would seem to have absorbed nothing of that lofty vision. Bibipur is then a metaphor, a representative story. Locally it is a symbol of unrelieved Dalit suffering in Haryana. Nationally it is about the staggering insensitivity of the state machinery to a community grievously wronged by history (Subrahmaniam, Vidya 2007, ‘A system against Dalits’, The Hindu, 14 March – Attachment 2).

Recent RRT research responses include information on the treatment of Dalits in Haryana. An RRT research response dated 25 May 2007 refers to attacks on Dalits in Haryana. The response also provides general information on whether state protection is available to Dalits in India (RRT Country Research 2007, Research Response IND31787, 25 May – Attachment 3).

Another RRT research response dated 4 April 2007 looks at the situation of Dalits in Kaithal district in Haryana and includes details of clashes that occurred between Dalits and upper caste people in various districts of Haryana between February 2003 and March 2007. The response also provides general information on initiatives to address discrimination arising from the caste system (RRT Country Research 2007, Research Response IND31565, 4 April – Attachment 4).

According to a Human Rights Watch report dated February 2007, a report by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for 2001-2002 indicated that Haryana was one of the states in India where there was a high acquittal rate in cases involving offences against Dalits (Human Rights Watch 2007, Hidden Apartheid – Caste Discrimination against India’s “Untouchables”, February, Volume 19, No. 3(C), p. 55 – Attachment 5).

The section on Haryana in the Asian Centre for Human Rights report on India for 2006 notes that “[t]he Dalits were targets of physical attacks by the upper caste people while the police and the administration remained silent spectators.” The report provides details of physical attacks against Dalits in Haryana during 2005, violence against Dalit women and Dalits being denied access to public properties and services (Asian Centre for Human Rights 2007, India Human Rights Report 2006, January, pp. 67-70 – Attachment 6).

An article dated 4 March 2006 refers to violence occurring in Haryana, including “in nearly half a dozen places across Haryana after the houses of Dalits were torched by a mob in Gohana near Sonepat.” The article indicates that “[t]he slow reaction of” Haryana’s chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s “government again proved that Hooda – a first time chief minister who had no administrative experience in public office earlier – had little control over the state bureaucracy and police. The embarrassment led to Hooda issuing a stern warning to his senior bureaucrats” (‘A chequered year for Hooda in Haryana’ 2006, Hindustan Times, 4 March – Attachment 7).

2. Please provide information on police corruption in Haryana.

The section on Haryana in the Asian Centre for Human Rights report on India for 2006 indicates that the police in Haryana were involved in “incidents of extortion”. According to the report:

The lawlessness of the police was further exemplified from incidents of extortion and “kidnappings” allegedly carried out by them for ransom. In March 2005, a court in Ambala directed the police to register a case against two officials of a police post of Ambala for allegedly kidnapping and torturing a local resident Megh Raj and his son Gagan for ransom… In another case, an Assistant Sub-Inspector of police, a Head Constable and three other persons including a journalist were booked on the charge of extortion of Rs 40,000 from a local arhtiya of Janta Grain Market in Karnal in March 2005 (Asian Centre for Human Rights 2007, India Human Rights Report 2006, January, p. 67 – Attachment 6).

The Human Rights Watch report dated February 2007 includes information on police in India extorting money from Dalits. The report notes that “[p]olice continue to detain, torture, and extort money from Dalits without much fear of punishment.” In relation to Haryana, the report indicates that “in 2002 in the Jhajjar district in Haryana, police allegedly killed five Dalits after failing to extort money from them. The Dalit boys, from families traditionally employed in the skinning of dead cows, apparently “refused to pay extortion money for being allowed to carry animal skins” (Human Rights Watch 2007, Hidden Apartheid – Caste Discrimination against India’s “Untouchables”, February, Volume 19, No. 3(C), pp. 27 & 33 – Attachment 5).

An article dated 5 November 2006 in The Times of India notes that “[t]o check corruption in the police force, Haryana Police has introduced a toll-free number at police headquarters for public to report instances of bribery.” The “Gurgaon special superintendent of police (SSP) Hanif Qureshi, meanwhile, warned his men in uniform that sting operations would be launched to catch the corrupt officers red-handed” (Dash, Dipak Kumar 2006, ‘A number to ring out corruption in cops’, The Times of India, 5 November – Attachment 8).

A Hindustan Times article dated 22 June 2006 indicates that “[t]he CBI has registered an FIR against an SP and two DSPs of the Haryana police for fraud, cheating, forgery and corruption. According to the FIR, the three officers took money to forge test results of unsuccessful candidates during a recruitment drive for constables in the Government Railway Police (GRP) and the Haryana Armed Police (HAP) in 2002… As per the FIR, the three officers dishonestly selected unsuccessful candidates” (‘Another job scam: FIRs against Haryana policemen’ 2006, Hindustan Times, 22 June – Attachment 9).

Another article dated 24 August 2005 in The Times of India refers to residents of Gurgaon “increasingly having to deal with harassment and extortion by Haryana police constables.” The article indicates that a woman had reported to the senior superintendent of police that two Haryana police constables accepted money to let her and a friend go after the police had abused the woman when she could not produce the papers for her car. The woman reported the incident to “the senior superintendent of police who deputed an officer to investigate into the case. He has assured strict penal action against the culprits.” The article refers to other incidents where police were alleged to have extorted money from people. It also notes that “[t]wo cases have been registered with the vigilance department since January 1, 2004: a head constable caught for taking a bribe of Rs 4,000 on August 5, 2004 and an assistant sub- inspector who was arrested for taking Rs 1,500 on September 2, 2004” (Saxena, Payal 2005, ‘Gurgaon police target women’, The Times of India, 24 August – Attachment 10).

An article dated 27 July 2005 in The Hindu refers to “the breakdown of the police forces’ professional ethos.” It is stated in the article that:

The disease of course is not confined to Haryana. Massive corruption in recruitment of the constable-level police force, the disproportionate deployment of police personnel for security of the not-so-honourable political leaders, the role of extraneous considerations in posting and promotion of the senior police personnel, as well as the rise of the private security agencies all tell on the police’s professional performance. A Chief Minister insists on treating the Director-General of Police as his personal muscle man; the downstream effects of this abuse of the police force by the political class can be observed all the country.

The Haryana police force is only an extreme example of the rampant indiscipline, inefficiency and incompetence in our security forces. And “law and order” being a State subject, the Centre has little say in the matter (Khare, Harish 2005, ‘A metaphor for the new insensitivity’, The Hindu, 27 July – Attachment 11 ).

An article in The Tribune, Chandigarh dated 5 April 2005 indicates that the Haryana Director-General of Police at that time, Mr A.S. Bhatotia, in commenting on the Haryana police department, had observed that “[c]orruption has become synonymous with the police department. Nothing moves in the department without greasing the palm of police officers. No complaint is entertained and no FIR is registered without paying bribe to police officials concerned. It appears that criminals are having free run in the state and no officer is taking pains to apprehend theme.” The article notes that “the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda,” had “expressed dissatisfaction with the functioning of the department at a recent meeting of top brass of the police force. Mr Hooda suggested complete overhauling of the department’s functioning and said he would personally review the situation after three months after which non-performers would be “taken to task”” (Gayatri, Geetanjali 2005, ‘Complete overhauling of Haryana Police Department in the offing’, The Tribune, Chandigarh, 5 April http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050405/haryana.htm#1 – Accessed 14 June 2007 – Attachment 12).

As previously mentioned, the section on Haryana in the Asian Centre for Human Rights report on India for 2007 indicates that “[r]uled by the Indian National Congress, Haryana remained a lawless State especially with regard to the Dalits. Their rights continued to be violated by upper caste people in alleged connivance with the police.” The report also notes that in December 2006, a draft police ordinance that “will strengthen the control of the civil authority over the police” was approved by the Haryana State Cabinet. It is stated in the report that:

The Haryana State Cabinet on 20 December 2006 approved the draft Haryana Police Ordinance, 2006. The ordinance will replace the Police Act of 1861 and the Punjab Police Rules, 1934. The new law gives powers to the District Magistrate to coordinate and direct the functioning of the police with other agencies of the district administration. This will strengthen the control of the civil authority over the police. A single-member State-level police complaint authority, who will be either a retired Judge or a retired civil servant not below the rank of Secretary to the State Government or a lawyer well versed in criminal law and with a standing of at least 20 years, will inquire into complaints regarding custodial deaths, custodial torture, rape or an attempt to rape in police custody (Asian Centre for Human Rights 2007, ‘India Human Rights Report 2007: Haryana’, ACHR website, May, Section 1 http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/AR07/haryana.htm - Accessed 1 June 2007 – Attachment 1).

In relation to police corruption generally in India, the US Department of State human rights report on India for 2006 indicates that:

Corruption in the police force was pervasive and acknowledged by many government officials. Officers at all levels acted with relative impunity and were rarely held accountable for illegal actions. When an officer was found guilty of a crime, the most common punishment was transfer to a different position or post. Human rights activists and NGOs reported that bribery was often necessary to receive police services (US Department of State 2007, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006 – India, March, Section 1(d) – Attachment 13).

3. Please provide information regarding any restriction of movement on Dalits from Haryana.

The section on Haryana in the Asian Centre for Human Rights report on India for 2006 refers to the 45 Dalits in Badhram village in Pulwal district, Haryana being “reportedly socially ostracized and confined to their homes by the landlords after they offered prayers at the village temple on 20 July 2005.” According to the report:

The Dalits were denied access to public properties and services. In Badhram village in Pulwal district, all the 45 Dalit villagers were reportedly socially ostracized and confined to their homes by the landlords after they offered prayers at the village temple on 20 July 2005. Following the diktat of the landlords, the Dalits were not allowed to buy essential commodities from the village shops. The Dalits were beaten up and the moustache of one Dalit man was reportedly shoved off every day as a part of humiliation. But the local police allegedly refused to take cognizance of the matter. On 11 August 2005, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes asked the Inspector-General of Police (Gurgaon range) to provide security to the Dalit villagers and submit an Action Taken Report within 10 days… Even as a Deputy Superintendent of Police visited Badhram village on 12 August 2005, the landlords set fire to three Dalit houses, beat up a Dalit identified as Bhim and attacked a Dalit woman (name withheld).

The report also notes that “[d]enial of entry into common temples led Dalits to construct their own temples in most of the villages in Haryana” (Asian Centre for Human Rights 2007, India Human Rights Report 2006, January, pp. 69-70 – Attachment 6).

Information was also found regarding Dalits being forcibly displaced following caste-based violence. The section on Haryana in the 2007 Asian Centre for Human Rights report on India indicates that during 2006, there were incidents in which Dalits in Haryana were forced “to flee their villages” following threats and/or attacks by upper caste people. The report refers to the “[f]ailure to take action by the police and administration” in Haryana (Asian Centre for Human Rights 2007, ‘India Human Rights Report 2007: Haryana’, ACHR website, May http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/AR07/haryana.htm - Accessed 1 June 2007 – Attachment 1).

The Human Rights Watch report dated February 2007 indicates that “[i]n 2003 a mass displacement of all 275 Dalit families from Harsola village in Haryana’s Kaithal district followed an attack on the village by upper-caste men... Congress leaders who brought the case to the attention of the NHRC [National Human Rights Commission] cited the “irresponsible” statements of local officials, such as those indicating that Dalits “were enjoying the situation and were not interested in returning to their homes” (Human Rights Watch 2007, Hidden Apartheid – Caste Discrimination against India’s “Untouchables”, February, Volume 19, No. 3(C), p. 68 – Attachment 5). An article dated 23 April 2004 notes that the district administration had “so far been unable to ensure... a safe return” for the Dalits of Harsola, almost a year after they had been”[c]hased out of the village by upper caste landlords”. The article also refers to “the Dalit families of Kiodic and Kolekhan villages” who had “fled their native place eight years back and have since been unable to return to their hearth and home” (‘Displaced Dalits have no place to vote’ 2004, The Hindu, 23 April – Attachment 14).

The Human Rights Watch report dated February 2007 also includes general information regarding the segregation of Dalits in India and notes that “[a]lthough there is no de jure policy of segregation in India, Dalits are subject to de facto segregation in all spheres, including housing, the enjoyment of public services… and education”. The report indicates that “Dalits’ right to freedom of movement and residence within India is curtailed by residential segregation, by conditions which make Dalits vulnerable to migratory labor, and by the forced displacement of Dalits in the aftermath of episodes of caste violence.” The right of Dalits “to leave India, while formally granted, is not substantively guaranteed, due to Dalits’ difficulty in acquiring relevant documents (such as birth certificates) and other proof necessary to get a passport” (Human Rights Watch 2007, Hidden Apartheid – Caste Discrimination against India’s “Untouchables”, February, Volume 19, No. 3(C), pp. 45, 66 & 69 – Attachment 5).

The US Department of State human rights report on India for 2006 notes that “Dalits, among the poorest of citizens, generally did not own land and often were illiterate. They faced significant discrimination despite laws to protect them and often were socially prohibited from using the same wells, attending the same temples, and marrying upper-caste Hindus. In addition, they faced social segregation in housing, land ownership, and public transport” (US Department of State 2007, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006 – India, March, Section 5 – Attachment 13).

The concluding observations of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination dated 5 May 2007 regarding a report submitted by India indicates that the Committee noted “with concern that, despite the formal abolition of “Untouchability” by article 17 of the Indian Constitution, de facto segregation of Dalits persists, in particular in rural areas, in access to places of worship, housing, hospitals, education, water sources, markets and other public places.” The committee urged “the State party to intensify its efforts to enforce the Protection of Civil Rights Act (1955), especially in rural areas, including by effectively punishing acts of “Untouchability”, to take effective measures against segregation in public schools and residential segregation, and to ensure equal access for Dalits places of worship, hospitals, water sources and any other places or services intended for use by the general public” (United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2007, ‘Consideration of reports submitted by States Parties under Article 9 of the Convention – Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – India’, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Treaty Body Database website, CERD/C/IND/CO/19, 5 May, p. 3 http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/898586b1dc7b4043c1256a450044f331/0a287107325678c5 c12572ed004ac999/$FILE/G0741717.doc - Accessed 13 June 2007 – Attachment 15).

List of Sources Consulted

Internet Sources: Government Information & Reports Immigration & Refugee Board of Canada http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/ UK Home Office http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/ US Department of State http://www.state.gov/ United Nations (UN) United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Treaty Body Database website http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/ UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) website http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rsd Non-Government Organisations Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org/ Amnesty International http://www.amnesty.org International News & Politics BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk Region Specific Links Asian Centre for Human Rights website http://www.achrweb.org/ Search Engines Copernic http://www.copernic.com/

Databases: FACTIVA (news database) BACIS (DIMA Country Information database) REFINFO (IRBDC (Canada) Country Information database) ISYS (RRT Country Research database, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US Department of State Reports) RRT Library Catalogue

List of Attachments

1. Asian Centre for Human Rights 2007, ‘India Human Rights Report 2007: Haryana’, ACHR website, May http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/AR07/haryana.htm - Accessed 1 June 2007.

2. Subrahmaniam, Vidya 2007, ‘A system against Dalits’, The Hindu, 14 March. (FACTIVA)

3. RRT Country Research 2007, Research Response IND31787, 25 May.

4. RRT Country Research 2007, Research Response IND31565, 4 April.

5. Human Rights Watch 2007, Hidden Apartheid – Caste Discrimination against India’s “Untouchables”, February, Volume 19, No. 3(C).

6. Asian Centre for Human Rights 2007, India Human Rights Report 2006, January.

7. ‘A chequered year for Hooda in Haryana’ 2006, Hindustan Times, 4 March. (FACTIVA)

8. Dash, Dipak Kumar 2006, ‘A number to ring out corruption in cops’, The Times of India, 5 November. (FACTIVA)

9. ‘Another job scam: FIRs against Haryana policemen’ 2006, Hindustan Times, 22 June. (FACTIVA)

10. Saxena, Payal 2005, ‘Gurgaon police target women’, The Times of India, 24 August. (FACTIVA)

11. Khare, Harish 2005, ‘A metaphor for the new insensitivity’, The Hindu, 27 July. (FACTIVA)

12. Gayatri, Geetanjali 2005, ‘Complete overhauling of Haryana Police Department in the offing’, The Tribune, Chandigarh, 5 April http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050405/haryana.htm#1 – Accessed 14 June 2007.

13. US Department of State 2007, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006 – India, March.

14. ‘Displaced Dalits have no place to vote’ 2004, The Hindu, 23 April. (FACTIVA)

15. United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2007, ‘Consideration of reports submitted by States Parties under Article 9 of the Convention – Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – India’, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Treaty Body Database website, CERD/C/IND/CO/19, 5 May http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/898586b1dc7b4043c1256a450044f331/0a287107325678c5 c12572ed004ac999/$FILE/G0741717.doc - Accessed 13 June 2007.