India must aggressively build on the initial steps it has taken recently to limit the use of antiterrorism laws, the Committee on International Human Rights of the New York City Bar Association said in a report released on Monday.
The 135-page report also said India must begin to transform its British colonial-era police and criminal justice institutions.
The report analyses human rights concerns arising from India's antiterrorism and security laws and the ways in which some of those concerns derive from lingering, colonial-era practices and institutions.
The report also welcomes the Indian government's decision -- following the bomb blasts over the summer in Mumbai -- not to enact new antiterrorism legislation but instead to focus on upgrading its intelligence and investigative capacity to prevent acts of terrorism and to hold perpetrators accountable.
'Respect for human rights when combating terrorism is a strategic imperative,' said Anil Kalhan, chair of the Committee's India project.
'As the Supreme Court of India has recognised, terrorism often is designed to provoke an overreaction and therefore thrives where human rights are violated. In this context, draconian laws often provide terrorists exactly the response they hope for and, in the process, plant the seeds for future violence. That is an important lesson for all countries facing the threat of terrorism.'
It welcomed the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2002. Despite laws like POTA, terrorism has persisted, and few terrorists have successfully been prosecuted, the report noted.
At the same time, like similar laws in other countries, aspects of India's antiterrorism and security laws have raised numerous human rights concerns.
The report also urges India to develop mechanisms to provide for greater administrative and judicial oversight of investigative and prosecutorial decision-making, and transparency in that decision-making, to ensure nationwide uniformity and respect for fundamental rights.
