(Abridged Version) Colonial Continuities: Human Rights, Terrorism, and Security Laws in India

Abstract

This article is an abridged report examining India's ongoing effort to reconcile its post-independence commitment to democracy, fundamental rights, and the rule of law with the inherited institutions of colonialism, focusing on several antiterrorism laws enacted during the past twenty-five years. The article arises from a human rights project conducted by several members of the Committee on International Human Rights of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and was authored by Anil Kalhan, chair of the Association's India Project and Visiting Assistant Professor at Fordham Law School. The other project participants, who met with Indian lawyers, government officials, and others in 2004 and 2005, were Gerald P. Conroy, Deputy Commissioner in the Office of the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District, Mamta Kaushal, coordinator of the visit and then-associate in the law firm of Wachtel & Masyr, LLP, Sam Scott Miller, partner in the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, and Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Readers seeking greater detail and more complete citations should refer to the unabridged version, which is also available on SSRN. See Anil Kalhan, et al., Colonial Continuities: Human Rights, Terrorism, and Security Laws in India, 20 Colum. J. Asian L. 93 (2006), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=970503. The author of both versions is Anil Kalhan.

Keywords: India, South Asia, terrorism, emergency, preventive detention, security, human rights, comparative constitutional law, police, criminal justice reform