Due process followed: MEA after UNHRC and EU flak

As India faced flak from the United Nations Human Rights Council and the European Union over Stan Swamy’s death, the Ministry of External Affairs said he was “arrested by National Investigation Agency following the due process under law”.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday expressed sadness over the death of Swamy. “Bachelet and the UN’s independent experts have repeatedly raised the cases of father Stan and 15 other human rights defenders associated with the same events with the government of India over the past three years and urged their release from pre-trial detention,” the commissioner’s spokesperson Liz Throssell said. “The high commissioner has also raised concerns over the use of the UAPA in relation to human rights defenders, a law father Stan was challenging before Indian courts days before he died,” she said. “We stress, once again, the high commissioner's call on the government of India to ensure that no one is detained for exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of expression, of peaceful assembly and of association.” European Union Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore echoed similar sentiment in a tweet.

The MEA spokesperson said: “Authorities in India act against violations of law and not against legitimate exercise of rights... India’s democratic and constitutional polity is complemented by an independent judiciary, a range of national and state level Human Rights Commissions that monitor violations, a free media and a vibrant and vocal civil society. India remains committed to promotion and protection of human rights.”