MHA to probe if Amnesty International violated FCRA

Heeding to BJP student organisation ABVP’s police complaint against Amnesty International in Bengaluru, the union home ministry has launched a probe to find out if the international human rights watch group has done “possible” violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
 
The probe is being carried out under the provisions of the FCRA to find whether there was any violation of the laws by the India chapter of Amnesty International, a senior union home ministry official said on Tuesday.

Amnesty International is recognised world over for its efforts to bring out human rights violations and its reports are taken seriously by the western countries and the US.    

Amnesty is not yet registered under the FCRA and its application for registration under the Act is under serious scrutiny following the Bengaluru event where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised during a discussion on Kashmir on Saturday.

The probe will see whether the India chapter of Amnesty International has received foreign funds and if so under what laws, other sources of funding, its expenses and patterns of expenses, the official said.

Amnesty International, on its part, has rejected as “without substance” the allegations made by ABVP and claimed that none of its employees shouted any anti-India slogans at any point.

It was was booked under IPC sections, including sedition, by Bengaluru Police on complaint filed by ABVP activists.