[dropcap]T[/dropcap]HE New York City Bar Association's International Human Rights Committee has expressed dismay and disappointment over recent government actions against Lawyers Collective besides several other human right defenders in India.
The association in a statement on the independence of lawyers and judges voiced concern over "Indian government's ongoing campaign of harassment and intimidation used to target lawyers and other human rights defenders, which has intensified over the last several years."
Maintaining that the recent actions against Lawyers Collective and senior advocates, Indira Jaising and Anand Grover demonstrate the trend, the statement further said, "Mr Grover and Ms Jaising are well-respected, senior advocates with extensive experience as public service lawyers and human rights defenders in India and abroad."
"Together, they established prominent human rights and public interest organization, Lawyers Collective, which is based in New Delhi and maintains its registered office in Mumbai. Since at least 2016, the Indian government has used the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) to pursue Lawyers Collective, jeopardizing its required NGO-licensing and justifying punitive action so as to stymie Lawyers Collective's work," it added.
"Domestic and international human rights groups have highlighted the filing of criminal charges against Lawyers Collective and Mr Grover as evidence that the FCRA is prone to misuse by the government to harass outspoken rights groups," it stated. "Such reports are particularly disquieting for the international community in light of India's status as the world's largest democracy, with a robust constitutional tradition of free speech and press, combined with entrenched democratic and civil society institutions serving a pluralistic and multicultural populace."
It added: "The very fabric of India's democracy and rule of law are endangered by arbitrary and capricious government actions that chill and suppress freedom of expression and retaliate (or even appear to retaliate) against government critics."
Expressing solidarity with the lawyers and human rights defenders, the association has requested the government to abide by, and defer to, judicial due process and await the result of the appeal lodged by Lawyers Collective regarding the validity of the 2016 MHA FCRA report.