Rampant Lawlessness and Corruption in Modi Regime: 2023 World Freedom Report

Large-scale political corruption scandals have repeatedly exposed bribery and other malfeasance, but a great deal of corruption is thought to go unreported and unpunished.

While India is a multiparty democracy, the government led by prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has presided over discriminatory policies and a rise in persecution affecting the Muslim population.

This is among the findings of the 2023 edition of Freedom in the World report released on March 9 by Freedom House. The report says that the constitution guarantees civil liberties including freedom of expression and freedom of religion, but harassment of journalists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and other government critics has increased significantly under Modi. According to the report, the BJP of PM Modi has increasingly used government institutions to target political opponents. Muslims, scheduled castes (Dalits), and scheduled tribes (Adivasis) remain economically and socially marginalized.

The judiciary is formally independent of the political branches of government. Judges, particularly in the Supreme Court, have traditionally displayed autonomy and activism in response to public-interest litigation.

Lawless Police And Judiciary

However, according to the report, lower levels of the judiciary suffer from corruption, and the courts have shown signs of increasing politicization. The government has also made judicial appointments that observers consider political in nature.

Several key Supreme Court rulings in recent years have been favorable to the BJP, including the 2019 decision allowing the construction of a Hindu temple on the site of a historic mosque. In 2022, the report says, courts continued to issue rulings favoring the BJP, including in highly controversial cases.

The report says due process rights are not consistently upheld. Citizens face substantial obstacles in the pursuit of justice, including demands for bribes and difficulty getting the police to file a First Information Report (FIR), which is necessary to trigger an investigation of an alleged crime.

According to the report, corruption within the police force remains a problem. The justice system is severely backlogged and understaffed, leading to lengthy pretrial detention for suspects, many of whom remain in jail longer than the duration of any sentence they might receive if convicted.

A number of security laws allow detention without charge or based on vaguely defined offenses. The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) has been used extensively in recent years to hold individuals for long periods without trial or specific evidence of guilt.

In August 2022, 11 men convicted of crimes against a Muslim family during communal violence in Gujarat in 2002—including gang rape and murder—were released from prison in what was widely regarded as Modi government’s bid to secure the support of hard-line Hindu voters ahead of the December 2022 state elections.

The report further says that torture, abuse, and rape by law enforcement and security officials have been reported. A bill intended to prevent torture remains pending. Abuses by prison staff against people in custody, particularly those belonging to marginalized groups, are common. In July 2022, according to the report, the Home Affairs Ministry reported that 4,484 people died in judicial or police custody in 2020 and 2021.

There are legal restrictions on freedom of assembly, including a provision of the criminal procedure code that empowers authorities to restrict public gatherings and impose curfews whenever “immediate prevention or speedy remedy” is required. State and central governments across India often suspend mobile and internet service to curb protests.

While peaceful demonstrations regularly take place, the national government and some state governments in India are known to employ assembly bans, internet disruptions, and force to quell protests, while protesters have faced harsh treatment and have been denied access to legal counsel.

Political Corruption

Large-scale political corruption scandals have repeatedly exposed bribery and other malfeasance, but a great deal of corruption is thought to go unreported and unpunished, and the authorities have been accused of selective, partisan enforcement, the Freedom House report reveals. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act of 2013 created independent national and state bodies tasked with receiving complaints of corruption against public servants or politicians, investigating such claims, and pursuing convictions through the courts.

However, according to the report, these agencies have been slow to begin operations. Only 7 of the country’s 29 state-level Lokayuktas had publicly accessible annual reports as of October 2022. Few complaints were submitted through these bodies. According to the report, the public generally has some access to information about government activity, but the legal framework meant to ensure transparency has been eroded in recent years. The 2014 Whistleblowers Protection Act was regarded as limited in scope, and subsequent amendments have drawn criticism for further undermining it.

The report says that millions of requests are made annually under the 2005 Right to Information (RTI) Act, and responses have been used to improve transparency and expose corrupt activities. However, most RTI applicants do not receive the information sought, including those seeking information about core government policies, and noncompliant officials generally go unpunished.

According to the report, dozens of right-to-information (RTI) users and activists in India have been murdered since the RTI Act’s introduction, and hundreds have been assaulted or harassed. In 2019, Parliament adopted amendments to the RTI Act that placed the salaries and tenures of the central and state-level information commissioners under the control of the central government, potentially exposing the commissioners to political pressure. National and state-level information commissions are hampered by staff vacancies.

Attacks On Media Freedom

The report says that the private media are somewhat vigorous and diverse, and investigations and scrutiny of politicians do occur. However, attacks on press freedom have escalated dramatically under the Modi government, and reporting has become significantly less ambitious in recent years, the report adds.

Authorities have used security, defamation, sedition, and hate speech laws, as well as contempt-of-court charges, to quiet critical voices in the media. Hindu nationalist campaigns aimed at discouraging forms of expression deemed “antinational” have exacerbated self-censorship.

Online disinformation from inauthentic sources is ubiquitous ahead of elections. Separately, revelations of close relationships between politicians, business executives, and lobbyists, on one hand, and leading media personalities and owners of media outlets, on the other, have dented public confidence in the press, the report says.

In addition to criminal charges, journalists risk harassment, death threats, and physical violence in the course of their work. Such attacks are rarely punished, and some have taken place with the complicity or active participation of police, the report says.

Freedom House is an American organization devoted to the support and defense of democracy around the world.

Note: The Indian government of prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi arrogantly rejects all the truthful global reports that reveal the failure or the autocracy of the Modi regime. Without offering any logical reasoning, the Modi government randomly claims that it is a global conspiracy to discredit Modi and his government.

Appeal for Donations

As I have launched a comprehensive research project to compile an exclusive report on corruption in India, you are requested to support this project financially with your donations.

You can click here to know more about this project and details for donations. Thank You. Rakesh Raman

Crime, Corruption, and Impunity in India

Politicians, bureaucrats, police, and judges have formed a criminal gang in India. The following cases depict how they collude with criminals and commit crimes and corruption with impunity while the ordinary citizens are suffering. Click the following links for details.

Cabinet Secretariat Case

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Case

Prime Minister Office (PMO) Case Delhi Lokayukta Case

DoPT Case CBI Case

Economic Offences Wing (EOW) Case Supreme Court Case

Delhi Govt Case Delhi Petitions Committee / CVC Case

NHRC Case School Education Case

Environmental Crime Case Lokpal Removal Case

Judicial Corruption Case RCS Corruption Case

AAP Corruption Case Widehouse Scandal

NHRC Case at UN HRC IAS Group Corruption Case

CPGRAMS Cases PGMS Cases

IAS Corruption Record UNCAC Petition

Delhi Police Case DoPT Processes

RCS RTI Violations DDA Corruption Case

Petitions and Representations by Rakesh Raman. Up to January 2023

Delhi Court Extends Custody of AAP Politician Manish Sisodia

Sisodia and his accomplice Satyendar Jain should be incarcerated in a harsh detention camp or a concentration camp outside Delhi so that they do not enjoy the luxurious treatment in Delhi’s Tihar jail.

A Delhi court on March 10 granted the custody till March 17 of former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case related to the liquor scam in Delhi.

Separately, the court will hear Sisodia’s bail plea in the same liquor scam case being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on March 21.

Earlier, on March 4, the court had extended the custody for two days of Manish Sisodia who belongs to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of Delhi chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal.

Sisodia was arrested on February 26 by the CBI for his interrogation in a massive liquor scam case in Delhi. In a statement released on February 26, CBI said that Sisodia was arrested because he gave evasive replies and did not cooperate in the investigation despite being confronted with evidence.

Reports suggest that Sisodia was produced in a court on February 27 and the court had granted a 5-day custody to the CBI for his further interrogation so that other culprits in the criminal network could also be caught, convicted, and jailed. It is likely that soon other AAP politicians - including Kejriwal - may be jailed for various crimes and acts of corruption that they may be committing secretly. In fact, under the Kejriwal government, Delhi has become the corruption capital of India. Similarly, AAP politicians in Punjab led by CM Bhagwant Mann may be arrested and jailed as Sisodia’s dubious Delhi liquor policy is being implemented in Punjab also. The president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Sukhbir Singh Badal has urged the Punjab Governor to hold a probe into the alleged Rs. 500-crore liquor policy scam committed by the AAP Government in the state.

Imprisonment Of Aap Politicians

Sisodia - who is the prime accused in the liquor scandal - shamelessly went in a procession to the CBI office on February 26 with a crowd of AAP supporters who shouted slogans in his favour as if he is a champion in some competition.

In a dramatic manner, Sisodia also went to Raj Ghat - a memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi in Delhi - to ostensibly show that he follows the truthful path of Mahatma Gandhi and he is innocent in this case.

Instead of showing proof of his innocence, Sisodia and his accomplices in AAP are resorting to all sorts of deceptive tricks to mislead the investigating agencies which are probing the liquor scandal and other scams in which Sisodia is allegedly involved.

Surprisingly, Sisodia also said that he is not afraid of going to jail, because he knows that jails provide all types of luxurious facilities to top politicians who are imprisoned for their crime and corruption cases.

Another jailed AAP leader Satyendar Jain - who is a colleague of Sisodia - is enjoying a VIP treatment including full-body massage inside the jail cell. Jain was sent to jail last year for his alleged involvement in a serious money laundering case. Obviously, Sisodia is not scared of going to jail because jail is a kind of picnic spot for AAP leaders. There is also a possibility that in the night when other prisoners are locked inside their cells, the corrupt politicians are released by corrupt jail officials so that they could enjoy nightlife and come back to jail after a few hours.

In fact, conventional imprisonment is not the right punishment for corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. They should rather be caged in a prison such as the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, which is a U.S. military prison known for its harsh treatment of prisoners.

False Statements

Earlier, in a tweet written in Hindi, Sisodia had said on February 18 that the CBI had summoned him for questioning. Without any substantiation, he added in his tweet that the law-enforcement agencies failed to find any proof of his wrongdoing and he is being stopped from providing education in schools.

Sisodia - who was an education minister in the Kejriwal government - has been trying to hide behind school education which is so bad in Delhi that the students fail to learn anything in schools that could help them in their careers. Sisodia has destroyed the careers of millions of students as he failed to provide quality education in schools.

In a related development, both Sisodia and Jain who were ministers in the Kejriwal government resigned from their positions on February 28 and Kejriwal has accepted their resignations.

Now, instead of telling the truth about the liquor scam, Sisodia is mischievously diverting the topic to school education although he is the prime accused in the liquor scandal.

As most politicians in AAP are crooks, reports suggest that in order to hoodwink the investigating agencies they are exploiting school children who are being coerced to demonstrate in favour of liquor scam accused Manish Sisodia. These innocent children are being allegedly forced by AAP accomplices to appear in videos to demand the release of Sisodia.

Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) - which investigates serious financial crime cases – had revealed that 140 mobile phones were changed by over 30 persons allegedly involved in the liquor scam of Delhi.

The ED claimed in a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in November last year that Sisodia and others involved in the excise / liquor scam have changed a total 140 phones with the intention to destroy digital evidence during the relevant period. The value of these phones is estimated to be Rs 1.20 crore.

Sisodia has been telling lies frequently to escape the legal dragnet. After attending a CBI hearing on October 17 last year in this case, Sisodia claimed without any evidence that CBI asked him to quit AAP and join Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which will make him Delhi CM.

Among his lies, Sisodia also said that CBI has admitted that there is no case against him but he is being harassed like his colleague Satyendar Jain, who is in jail for the past many months in a money laundering case.

But in a statement released on October 17, CBI refuted all the claims of Sisodia and said that Sisodia was questioned strictly on the allegations in the FIR (first information report) and the evidence collected so far during the course of investigation. CBI added that Sisodia’s statement will be verified in due course and further action will be taken as per requirements of investigation.

Liquor Scam Case

After the August 19 raids by the CBI at Sisodia’s residence, he and his AAP accomplices are telling flagrant lies with the aim to protect him in the liquor mafia collusion case.

Sisodia – who was a deputy CM under Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal – is facing serious allegations of corruption, criminal conspiracy, and falsification of government accounts, while the CBI has filed an FIR in which Sisodia’s name is at the top of a list of 15 accused in this case.

The opposition parties - BJP and Congress - in Delhi have been running aggressive campaigns to demand the resignation of Kejriwal, as they claim that Kejriwal is the kingpin in all the scandals happening in Delhi.

In July 2022, the Lt. Governor (LG) Vinai Saxena – who is the administrative head of Delhi – had asked the CBI to probe Sisodia’s surreptitious links with the liquor mafia that led to massive corruption in the sale of liquor shop licences in the city.

An August 22 article in The New Indian Express details different aspects of the case along with the names of the accused who allegedly colluded with Sisodia to run the criminal liquor network involved in an estimated corruption of hundreds of crores of rupees.

Now, instead of answering the media questions related to Delhi liquor scam in which Sisodia is allegedly involved, the AAP members are unsuccessfully trying to divert the case to unrelated issues such as Delhi school education that Sisodia was handling.

In their media interactions on Sisodia’s liquor scam case, the AAP spokespersons had been unnecessarily flaunting a New York Times (NYT) school education article which looks like an advertorial (advertisement or paid article) arranged by AAP’s publicity department. The article without any research falsely praises Sisodia and Delhi school education. But the article never exonerated Sisodia in the liquor mafia scandal. Now, Sisodia and his accomplice Satyendar Jain should be incarcerated in a harsh detention camp or a concentration camp outside Delhi so that they do not enjoy the luxurious treatment in Delhi’s Tihar jail.

More importantly, all the money (possibly hundreds of crores of rupees) embezzled in the scandals along with heavy interest should be recovered from them and they should not be allowed to work in any public office after the prison sentence.

The AAP politicians should also be interrogated sternly in order to know the names of their accomplices in AAP or external outfits who are involved in the liquor scam or other scandals so that all of them could be similarly convicted and jailed.

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NATO Getting Ready to Welcome Finland and Sweden as Alliance Members

The representatives of Türkiye, Finland, and Sweden discussed the concrete steps that have been taken to implement the Trilateral Memorandum.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on March 9 convened representatives from the governments of Türkiye, Finland and Sweden - the parties to the Permanent Joint Mechanism established by the Trilateral Memorandum signed in Madrid on the margins of the 2022 NATO Summit. This was the third such meeting of the Permanent Joint Mechanism since its creation last year.

The Secretary General, who opened the meeting, said: “Finland and Sweden have taken unprecedented steps to address legitimate Turkish security concerns. It is now time for all Allies to conclude the ratification process and welcome Finland and Sweden as full members of the Alliance ahead of the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius (taking place on 11-12 July 2023)”.

The representatives of Türkiye, Finland, and Sweden discussed the concrete steps that have been taken to implement the Trilateral Memorandum. As agreed in the Memorandum, there are no arms export restrictions between them; they have significantly enhanced counter-terrorism cooperation; and Sweden is now in the process of tightening anti-terrorism legislation, including against the PKK.

According to a NATO communique, all participants welcomed the progress that has been made. The parties agreed that the decision to invite Finland and Sweden to become NATO members was historic. They further agreed that rapid ratifications for both Finland and Sweden would be in everyone’s interest, and that their membership will strengthen the Alliance.

Türkiye, Finland, and Sweden also agreed on the long-term value of the Permanent Joint Mechanism in fighting terrorism and agreed to continue cooperation in this format and meet again before the Vilnius Summit. Courtesy: NATO