Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — Under the pretext of tackling terrorism financing, the Indian government is using laws against money laundering to launch a “witch-hunt” against civil society groups, Amnesty International has said.
The human rights watchdog quoted the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) report which rapped the Indian government for its “partial compliance” with measures to protect civil society activities. The FATF report was released on Thursday.
Rights organisations and news outlets have long complained of harassment under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, a charge it has denied.
In the last decade, India has cancelled the licences of thousands of non-governmental organisations using the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). Charities and non-profit firms need to register under FCRA to receive money from abroad.
But critics say Modi´s government has sought to pressure rights groups by heavily scrutinising their finances and clamping down on foreign funding.
The 40-member FATF, to which India has belonged since 2010, is mandated to tackle global money laundering and terrorist financing.
“The Indian government must take seriously the priority actions recommended by the FATF report…. to stop the witch-hunt under India´s anti-terror and money-laundering laws of non-profit organisations, human rights defenders and activists,” an AFP report quoted Amnesty International India chair Aakar Patel as saying.
The FATF report noted “significant delays in prosecutions” in India under its money laundering and anti-terrorism laws, saying they resulted in a “high number of pending cases and accused awaiting trial”.
