Amnesty International India


Amnesty International India is a country unit of the Amnesty International network, and is part of a global movement promoting and defending human rights and dignity.

History

An Amnesty International office was first set up in India in Bihar in 1966. Since then, the organization has worked on cases related torture, prisoners of conscience, abusive laws, women’s rights, corporate accountability and other human rights violations.

Campaigns

Amnesty International India collaborates with Railway Protection Force, Western Railways in Mumbai to ensure female passengers’ right to safety. It also runs a campaign to reduce the number of under-trials in jails in India. Some of Amnesty India's campaigns include seeking justice for the victims in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as well as opposing the use of the death penalty in India. The organization opposed the executions of Ajmal Kasab, Afzal Guru and Yakub Memon.

Controversies

Following an event held in Bengaluru on 13 August 2016 on human rights violations, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad filed a first information report against Amnesty India for being anti-national. Amnesty India denied that the organization or its staff had been involved in any anti-national activities. In March 2018, Amnesty India was found to be in violation of FCRA regulations of India, for which their offices in Bengaluru were raided by the Enforcement directorate.
On 15 November, 2019 the Central Bureau of Investigation raided the offices of Amnesty International India in Bengaluru and New Delhi during an investigation into an alleged breach of foreign funding laws. In a statement issued by CBI, they said "It was alleged that the provision of the Foreign Contribution Act 2010 and Indian Penal Code were contravened".