[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1519 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1519

  To reduce United States development assistance to India unless the 
  Government of India repeals certain special or preventive detention 
                                 laws.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 30, 1993

Mr. Burton of Indiana (for himself, Mr. Faleomavaega, Mr. Rohrabacher, 
Mr. Wilson, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Flake, Mr. Cox, Mr. Moran, Mr. Herger, Mr. 
   Miller of California, Mr. Solomon, Mr. Traficant, Mr. Crane, Mr. 
Condit, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Pete Geren of Texas, Mr. Paxon, Mr. Lehman, 
Mr. Fields of Texas, Mr. Zeliff, Mr. Doolittle, Mr. Packard, Mr. Hoke, 
Mr. Pombo, Mr. Baker of California, Mr. King, Mr. Levy, and Mr. Dreier) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                            Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To reduce United States development assistance to India unless the 
  Government of India repeals certain special or preventive detention 
                                 laws.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Justice in India Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) each year, in both Jammu and Kashmir and the Punjab, 
        the Government of India detains thousands of persons under 
        special or preventive detention laws without informing them of 
        the charges against them;
            (2) most of these detainees are political prisoners, 
        including prisoners of conscience;
            (3) they are often detained for several months and 
        sometimes even more than a year;
            (4) detainees are not permitted any contact with lawyers or 
        family members unless they are remanded to judicial custody and 
        transferred to prison, and only then if the family on its own 
        is able to locate the detainee;
            (5) in most cases, these persons are detained under the 
        Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act of 1987, 
        the National Security Act of 1980, and the Jammu and Kashmir 
        Public Safety Act of 1978;
            (6) the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) 
        Act of 1987 authorizes administrative detention without formal 
        charge or trial for up to 1 year for investigation of suspected 
        ``terrorist'' or broadly defined ``disruptive'' activities;
            (7) the 1-year period of permissible detention before trial 
        violates Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and 
        Political Rights, to which India is a party;
            (8) Article 9 of the International Covenant provides, 
        ``Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be 
        brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by 
        law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial 
        within a reasonable time or to release.'';
            (9) under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities 
        (Prevention) Act of 1987, all proceedings before a designate 
        court must be conducted in secret ``at any place other 
        than...[the court's]...ordinary place of sitting'';
            (10) section 16(2) of the Terrorist and Disruptive 
        Activities (Prevention) Act of 1987 permits the designated 
        court to keep the ``identity and address of any witness 
        secret'';
            (11) under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities 
        (Prevention) Act of 1987, a confession to a senior police 
        officer can be admitted as evidence if there is reason to 
        believe it was made voluntarily;
            (12) the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) 
        Act of 1987 amends India's criminal code, which prohibits such 
        confessions, and substantially increases the risk of torture;
            (13) the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) 
        Act of 1987 reverses the presumption of innocence, placing the 
        burden on the accused to prove that he or she is not guilty;
            (14) the National Security Act of 1980 permits the 
        detention of persons without charge or trial for up to 1 year 
        in order to prevent them from acting in a manner prejudicial to 
        the security of the state, the maintenance of public order, the 
        maintenance of supplies and services essential to the 
        community, or relations with a foreign power;
            (15) the National Security Act of 1980 was amended to 
        permit 2 years detention in the Punjab;
            (16) under this Act, India may detain any person engaged in 
        behavior ``prejudicial to the defense of India, the relations 
        of India with foreign powers, or the security of India'';
            (17) the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act of 1978 
        empowers India to detain persons without trial for up to 1 year 
        for a broad range of activities, including ``promoting, 
        propagating, or attempting to create, feelings of enmity or 
        hatred or disharmony on grounds of religion, race, community, 
        or region'';
            (18) the Armed Forces (Punjab and Chandigarh) Special 
        Powers Act of 1983 and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) 
        Special Powers Act of 1990 empower Indian security forces to 
        search homes without warrant, to make arrests without warrant, 
        to destroy the ``hideouts'' of suspected terrorists, and to 
        shoot to kill with immunity from prosecution;
            (19) Indian security forces routinely employ methods of 
        torture, beatings, and threats to induce detainees to sign 
        statements of confession and to identify suspected militants;
            (20) the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) 
        Act of 1987, the National Security Act of 1980, the Jammu and 
        Kashmir Public Safety Act of 1978, the Armed Forces (Punjab and 
        Chandigarh) Special Powers Act of 1983, and the Armed Forces 
        (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act of 1990 facilitate human 
        rights abuses by suspending ordinary safeguards against 
        arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention, and torture; and
            (21) these 5 laws are incompatible with the principles of a 
        modern democracy.

SEC. 3. REDUCTION OF DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FOR INDIA UNLESS CERTAIN 
              LAWS REPEALED.

    (a) Report.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the President shall report to the Congress whether the 
Government of India has repealed all the laws specified in subsection 
(d).
    (b) Reduction of Assistance.--If the President reports to Congress, 
either pursuant to subsection (a) or at any other time, that the 
Government of India has not repealed all the laws specified in 
subsection (d), all development assistance for India under chapter 1 of 
part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 shall be terminated except 
for assistance to continue the Immunodiagnostic Development Project, 
the Child Survival Health Support Project, and the Private and 
Voluntary Organizations for Health II Project.
    (c) Resumption of Assistance.--Assistance terminated pursuant to 
subsection (b) may be resumed only if the President reports to Congress 
that the Government of India has repealed all the laws specified in 
subsection (d).
    (d) Special and Preventive Detention Laws.--The laws referred to in 
subsections (a), (b), and (c) are the Terrorist and Disruptive 
Activities (Prevention) Act of 1987, the National Security Act of 1980, 
the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act of 1978, the Armed Forces 
(Punjab and Chandigarh) Special Powers Act of 1983, and the Armed 
Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act of 1990.

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