Amnesty: India imprisons hundreds to muzzle Kashmir separatists

The Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir is holding hundreds of people each year without charge or trial in order to ‘keep them out of circulation’, a new Amnesty International report released today shows, according to a posting on the human rights organization's web site.

Titled ‘Lawless Law’: Detentions under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, the report documents how the Public Safety Act (PSA) is used to secure the long-term detention of individuals against whom there is insufficient evidence for a trial, Amnesty said. Its estimates of the number detained under the PSA over the past two decades range from 8,000-20,000, with 322 reportedly held from January to September 2010 alone, according to the web site.

“The Jammu and Kashmir authorities are using PSA detentions as a revolving door to keep people they can’t or won’t convict through proper legal channels locked up and out of the way,” a press release cited Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director as saying.