Speaking on the recent attack on a CRPF patrolling party in Sopore by terrorists, Amnesty India took to Twitter to claim that the Kashmir police violated laws by revealing the identity of the three-year-old child whom the Jammu and Kashmir police had rescued from being killed by terrorists. The kid was rescued by security forces after his civilian grandfather was killed by terrorists during an encounter with security forces.
Sharing the tweet by Kashmir zone police, where the police had shared an image of the police personnel carrying the three-year-old child in his arms, Amnesty India retorted that by disclosing the identity of the child, the Kashmir police violated Article 74 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
In its subsequent tweet, Amnesty claimed that the action amounted to a breach of the best interests of the child principle under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which India is a state party”.
By disclosing the identity of a minor witness of a crime, Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) stands in violation of Article 74 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. pic.twitter.com/brwzH7wPuc
— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) July 1, 2020
As a response to the NGO’s Tweet, journalist Aditya Raj Kaul shared the screenshot of one of Amnesty India’s 2018 tweet, to call out its hypocrisy. In 2018 the NGO has shared a picture of a toddler who was allegedly hit by pellets. In its tweet, the NGO had not only shared the picture of the 9-month-old toddler but had also shared the name of the child.
One pellet hit Hiba in her right eye and hit her mother’s right hand while she was trying to protect Hiba.
— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) November 28, 2018
In 2017, we highlighted 88 similar cases that illustrated how pellet firing shotguns are inherently inaccurate weapons & should be banned.https://t.co/jaTkzdQlRY
In one such other tweet posted on June 3, 2020, Amnesty India had shared the picture and name of one 9-year-old, Owais Ahmad, claiming that the child was hurt by pellet-firing shotguns. Not only this, but the NGO had also gone a step ahead to use the child’s name and picture to attack the Modi government. The tweet said that the 9-year-old Owais Ahmad was a grim reminder of the cost Kashmiris are paying for Government’s heavy-headed crackdown in the valley.
9 year old Owais Ahmad is yet another reminder of the human cost of the government’s heavy-handed crackdown in #Kashmir.
— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) June 3, 2020
Pellet firing shotguns should have no place in law enforcement.#BanPelletGunshttps://t.co/K2pgeHSMze
Similarly in 2018, Amnesty India had tweeted that class 10 student Insha lost vision in both her eyes after getting hit by pellets fired by Indian security forces. “She is one of the many children who have been affected by pellet-firing shotguns”, they had claimed, and posted her photograph in the tweet.
Insha lost vision in both eyes due to pellet injuries. Despite this, she cleared her class 10 board exams in January!
— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) March 2, 2018
She is one of the many children who have been affected by pellet-firing shotguns. Act now to #BanPelletGuns: https://t.co/DRr9myTjmG pic.twitter.com/F9mhhFqmmg
Thus, it can be seen that Amnesty India has been regularly disclosing identities and photographs of minors, when they are allegedly victims of pellets fired by Indian security forces. But when Kashmir police posts photograph of a child rescued by them from terrorists, it becomes a violation of the law for the Islamist organisation.
It’s appalling how not only Amnesty India, but many Twitter users had blatantly used the Sopore encounter to cast aspersions at the Jammu and Kashmir police. Some had claimed that the civilian, who had actually died in cross-firing, was killed by the CRPF personnel. However, refuting social media claims that the old man was brought down by the CRPF, Sopore Police had yesterday issued a statement. Calling the claims baseless and far beyond the facts, Sopore police said that action would be initiated against those spreading rumours.
Sopore encounter
Yesterday, terrorists in Sopore town of Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir attacked a patrolling party of CRPF today. A three-year-old boy has been rescued by the Jammu and Kashmir police. Kashmir Zone Police shared a picture of a police officer holding the child. The child was present at the spot when the attack happened. During the attack, a CRPF jawan and a civilian lost their lives. The child was the grandson of the civilian who was killed by the terrorists.
The selective amnesia of Amnesty
Amnesty India has many times in the past been caught on the wrong foot. In March 2018 the NGO had come under the scanner of the government for allegedly violating foreign funding laws. Subsequently, in October 2018, the Enforcement Directorate had raided Amnesty India’s parent organisation, headquartered in Bengaluru for violation of FDI guidelines.
Amnesty International had then as a retaliatory reaction, floated a petition against the ‘excesses’ carried out against ‘peaceful protestors’ by the central government and law enforcement agencies across the country to curb the mob violence that ensued in the name of protests against the CAA, which included immense damage to public property, arson, damages to public life, scores of policemen being wounded by gunshots, Hindu Temples being attacked, slogans such as ‘Jinnah Wali Azadi‘ and ‘Hinduon se Azadi‘ being raised, instances of stone-pelting, and much more.
