'Human Rights Cannot Be An Excuse To Defy Law Of The Land': MHA Responds To Amnesty International

Human Rights cannot be an excuse for defying the law of the land, said the Ministry of Home Affairs in a statement in response to the Amnesty International issue. The Government said that the NGO has adopted dubious processes to secure funds for its operations.

The Amnesty International has halted India Operations after the Government freezed all its bank accounts. The Government said that the statements made by Amnesty International are unfortunate, exaggerated and far from the truth. It had alleged that this move by the Government is only an extension of the various repressive policies and sustained assault by the government on those who speak truth to power.

Terming this statement 'unfortunate, exaggerated and far from the truth', the Government said that the Amnesty International had received permission under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) only once and that too twenty years ago (19.12.2000). Since then Amnesty International, despite its repeated applications, has been denied FCRA approval by successive governments since as per law it is not eligible to get such an approval, it stated.

The Government further states that, in order to circumvent the FCRA regulations, Amnesty UK remitted large amounts of money to four entities registered in India, by classifying it as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). "Owing to these illegal practices of Amnesty, the previous government had also rejected the repeated applications of Amnesty to receive funds from overseas. This had led Amnesty to suspend its India operations once during that period as well. This bipartisan and purely legal approach towards Amnesty, under different governments, makes it clear that the entire fault lies in the dubious processes adopted by Amnesty to secure funds for its operations.", it added.

"All the glossy statements about humanitarian work and speaking truth to power are nothing but a ploy to divert attention from their activities which were in clear contravention of laid down Indian laws. Such statements are also an attempt to extraneously influence the course of investigations by multiple agencies into the irregularities and illegalities carried out over the last few years." MHA stated.

"Amnesty is free to continue humanitarian work in India, as is being done by many other organizations. However, India, by settled law, does not allow interference in domestic political debates by entities funded by foreign donations. This law applies equally to all and it shall apply to Amnesty International as well. India has a rich and pluralistic democratic culture with a free press, independent judiciary and tradition of vibrant domestic debate. The people of India have placed unprecedented trust in the current government. Amnesty's failure to comply with local regulations does not entitle them to make comments on the democratic and plural character of India.", it added.

Click here to Read Statement [PIB]