April 16, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 9, 1429

GENEVA, April 15: India must take rapid action to ratify the UN Convention against Torture more than a decade after pledging to do so, the top UN human rights body said on Tuesday.

In a report on New Delhi’s rights record, members of the UN Human Rights Council also called for more progress on tackling discrimination against women and lower-caste people.

However the report made no mention of India’s controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which makes military personnel immune from prosecution for any acts committed in the line of duty.

Human rights groups have denounced this legislation as a key cause of human rights abuses.

The Act is “a draconian legislation that has been an instrument for violation of the basic human rights of communities in the North East for the last half-century,” activist Vishna Grover told journalists last week.

India regularly comes under attack for alleged human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir.

—AFP