The History

The ‘National Conference on Human Rights, Social Movements, Globalization and the Law’ at Panchgani, in December 2000 brought together over 1400 human rights activists and lawyers from different parts of India and aborad. Asia.

Sitting and retired judges from Indian courts and two judges of the Constitutional Court of South Africa also attended the conference. It was during this meeting that the idea of publishing a magazine on human rights and law was born. Combat Law is a collaborative effort of all those working towards the consolidation and extension of human rights through the justice system.

The Struggle

Never before in the history of this nation have so many people been denuded of their fundamental rights - they stand improvised and broken. Never before has the state been so brutal against its own people. Never have starvation, illiteracy, ill health, homelessness and unemployment so stalked this land.

The Constitution lays down as fundamental in the governance of India, the establishment of a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people, where inequalities are minimized, adequate means of livelihood secured, control of resources distributed to subserve the common good, concentration of wealth eliminated, the right to work and education provided for and so too public assistance in case of old age, sickness, disablement and want and where the state raises the level of nutrition and standard of living of the people and improves public health.

In the name of 'globalisation' all this is being undone, leaving in its wake concentration of economic wealth on one hand and utter destitution on the other hand.One of the most oppressive statutes, the Land Acquisition Act, has enabled the removal of millions from their lands and livelihoods for the projects of dubious public purposes, breeding homelessness and misery.

Despite the right to housing being incorporated in Article 21 - the Right to Life - by the Supreme Court, and India agreeing to the UN Resolution Against Evictions, the most brutal demolitions of the slums are taking place.The protective umbrella of the labour law is now sought to be dismantled allowing closures and the employment of contract labour in perennial work positions and permitting encroachment into union rights by the state.

Child abuse is rampant, and no law exists. Despite the Child Labour Act, millions of children join the rank of the working class every year as the education budget shrinks and the state schools are closed. Despite the Equality clause, violence against women is extreme, discrimination routine, legal redressal illusory and substantial equality a distant dream. If the legal system has failed the people, it could not be more obvious than in the area of legal aid for women.

And in jails the prisoners rot. "Encounter deaths”, a euphemism for state killing, have become as routine as an execution a day in a state like Andhra Pradesh. Abductions and torture by the police and the armed forces, particularly in the Northeast, Kashmir, Punjab, and Bihar occur with hardly any judicial notice.

The state now proposes to introduce the Prevention of Terrorism Bill, which is even more heinous than the Terrorism and Disruptive Activities Act.Despite the advances of common law in Australia, Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Britain and their recognition of customary rights of the indigenous people, in India millions of adivasis have been treated as rank encroachers and ruthlessly displaced.The virus of communalism spreads rapidly through the administration and the police. Despite provisions enabling the prosecution of those engaging in communal activities, legal proceedings, from anti Sikh riots to the Bombay riots, have proved futile. And the practice of untouchability continues unabated to this day, with hardly a prosecution anywhere.

Article 377 of the IPC, a sodomy law that is archaic and draconian is used to persecute people with alternate sexual orientation making them vulnerable to threats from all quarters of society.All this has taken India to the verge of economic ruin. The banks are unsteady. The state exchequers are dry and are being funded by selling the assets of the state and by dipping into the pension funds.

These changes are not accidental. They are part of a worldwide move to draw the upper classes into a web of exploitation and corruption, bringing them unimaginable returns while pushing the rest into servitude. Though rapid advances were made in environmental law by the introduction of the 'polluter pays' and 'precautionary' principles and the Public Trust doctrine, the environment movement suffered the intervention of powerful industrial lobbies masquerading as environment groups and campaigning actively for demolition of slums, closure of factories and eviction of tribals from national parks.

Despite the enactment of the Disability Act 1995, lawyers, judges, and officials remain oblivious of its provisions. Despite the rapidly increasing numbers of HIV positive people, the lack of medical care and the offensive discrimination routinely being practised, no law exists to protect their fundamental rights.And no thought is given to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-sexual rights.

The three principal felons - The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization have successfully lobbied for the legal opening of our country to global exploitation and for the denationalisation of economic decision-making. All the poverty alleviation programmes are now being systemically dismantled. Changes in the law under TRIPS regime are adversely affecting the poor particularly in the fields of seeds and drugs. The conditionalities of structural adjustments saw changes in the statutes covering power, banking and insurance, which are fraught with adverse repercussions for consumers.

This is all the more frightening as legal changes are being brought about without the legislators understanding what they are doing. Synchronised policy changes are diverting funds allocated to the poor for education, health, transportation, employment and food. To make matters worse, manic militarisation is eating further into these funds.Judicial responses have been mixed. Rapid strides were made in the environmental law with some progress in administrative law and the law relating to women. The judiciary stepped in to correct some excesses committed by the state. But it was ineffective in many ways.

Repressive statutes such as the Armed Forces (Special Provisions) Act were upheld. Torture by the police is so widespread that it appears beyond judicial review. Personal laws were held to be immune from constitutional challenge. The huts of the poor were bulldozed and the remnants burnt without the court intervening. Corruption spread like a cancer throughout the arms of the state and the courts looked away. Land acquisition and displacement of millions were held legal and justified.

With the backlog in the appointment of judges growing, arrears mounted, leaving litigants frustrated. The administration of justice is woefully out of tune with the unprecedented crisis of modern India.Fighting courageously, often without resources, are human rights groups in India and throughout the world. For us, this is perhaps a good time to take stock.

To take a collective look at how the law can be used to defend and strengthen the people’s movements. To strengthen the national campaigns. To push for policies and laws that we want. To assist the sections of the judiciary still open to enforcement and expansion of basic rights. To build solidarity in struggle. To combine forces in this, our second movement for a radical new society, without weapons or want and at peace.

Colin Gonsalves
The Panchgani Concept Paper, December 2000