SOUTH ASIA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

2227human rights organization. The same organization reported that the victims declinedto press charges against the police. On September 3, Captain Ravinder SinghTwatir of the 12th Battalion, Rashtriya Rifles, was sentenced to 7 years of rigorousimprisonment and dismissed from the army for raping a girl in Naugam village,Doda district, Jammu and Kashmir on February 14. As of September no action hadbeen taken against an alleged accomplice in the rape, special police officer BharatBhusan. The NHRC received a report of only one case of custodial rape betweenApril 1997 and March 1998. The 24-hour reporting requirement applies to custodialrape as well as custodial death. However, the requirement does not apply to rapeby policemen outside police stations. NGO’s claim that rape by police, including custodialrape, is more common than NHRC figures indicate. Although evidence is lacking,a higher incidence of abuse appears credible, given other evidence of abusivebehavior by police and the likelihood that many rapes go unreported due to a senseof shame and a fear of retribution among victims.Human rights monitors allege that on July 19, central reserve police force personnelraped a tribal housewife in Lamdam village, Manipur. They allege that therape was committed in retaliation for an attack carried out on a CRPF patrol byPeople’s Liberation Army militants the previous day (see Section 1.g.).There is a pattern of rape by paramilitary personnel in Jammu and Kashmir andthe northeast as a means of instilling fear among noncombatants in insurgency-affectedareas (see Section 1.g.), but it is not included in NHRC statistics because itinvolves military forces.From April 1998 to March 1999, the NHRC received 1,297 complaints of custodialdeath (1,114 in judicial custody and 183 in police custody), no cases of custodialrape, and 2,252 complaints of other police abuses. By year’s end, the NHRC had notreleased the statistics of its actions against police during this time period. However,from April 1997 to March 1998, the NHRC received 1,012 complaints of custodialdeath (819 in judicial custody and 193 in police custody), 1 case of custodial rape,and 1,413 complaints of other police excesses. As a result of NHRC action duringthis earlier period, criminal prosecutions were brought against 43 persons; departmentalaction was taken against 60 officers, 51 of whom were placed under suspension;and monetary compensation in amounts ranging from $1,100 (50,000 rupees)to $2,100 (100,000 rupees) were recommended for payment in 20 cases.According to press reports, prison officials used prisoners as domestic servantsand sold female prisoners to brothels (see Sections 5, 6.c., and 6.f.).Police corruption undermines efforts to combat trafficking in women and children(see Section 6.f.).Security forces killed and injured numerous militant group members, many in socalledencounter deaths, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeasternstates (see Section 1.a.).Militant groups sometimes used automatic weapons, hand grenades, bombs, landmines,and other weapons in political violence in Jammu and Kashmir and thenortheastern states; numerous security forces and civilians were killed and injured.Religiously motivated violence led to a number of deaths and injuries as well asdamage to property (see Sections 1.a., 1.g., and 5).Some militant groups in the northeast have used rape as a tactic to terrorize thepopulace; however, no cases are known to have been reported during the year.Prison conditions are very poor. Prisons are severely overcrowded, and the provisionof food and medical care frequently is inadequate.Prisons operate above capacity because of thousands of prisoners awaiting hearings(see Section 1.d.). For example, in Bihar 80 percent of prisoners areunconvicted remand prisoners awaiting completion of their trials. Delhi’s Tihar jail,with a designed capacity of 3,300 persons, houses 9,000 prisoners. Birsa Munda jailin Ranchi, Bihar, designed to hold 364 persons, houses more than 1,800 male andfemale prisoners. In May the PUCL visited Sakchi jail, Jamshedpur, Bihar, followingcomplaints of abuse of prisoners. The human rights activists found that theprison, designed to hold 200 prisoners, housed 786 persons, of whom only 55 hadbeen convicted; the rest were at various stages of the judicial process. AmnestyInternational reported that overcrowding in Arthur jail, Mumbai, led to rioting onJune 19. Designed to hold 50 prisoners, Arthur jail has 180 inmates. Prison guardsreportedly attacked inmates with razors and wooden poles to quell rioting thaterupted following a fight between two prisoners. Forty inmates were injured in theincident. An August 3 report from Aizawl, Mizoram, stated that its central jail, designedto house 500 prisoners, had 846 inmates. The NHRC reported in Februaryon its November 1999 visits to jails in Guwahati and Shillong. In Guwahati thecommission found 780 inmates in a district jail designed to hold 507 (see Section1.d.). In Shillong the commission found 374 inmates in the central jail, which wasdesigned to hold 150 persons. One of the inmates was a 10- or 11-year-old girlVerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:46 Sep 20, 2001 Jkt 071555 PO 00000 Frm 00071 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 F:\WORK\COUNTRYR\S71555\71555.035 HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1