Brief Amici Curiae of Harvard Law Student Advocates for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch in Support of Petitioners
- "In 1995, in two writ petitions filed before the Supreme Court of India, Committee for Information and Initiative on Punjab vs. State of Punjab and Paramjit Kaur vs. State of Punjab and Ors., petitioners made serious allegations about large scale cremations committed by the Punjab Police from 1984 to 1994. International law establishes that forced disappearances are grave human rights abuses that violate the right to be free from arbitrary arrest, the right to be free from cruel and inhuman treatment, the right to liberty, and the right to life, all rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. International law, embodied in treaties and the jurisprudence of international tribunals, requires that States investigate all cases of forced disappearances in which State liability is at issue. States are obligated to conduct effective and thorough investigations of all allegations of forced disappearances and to provide a remedy for those whose rights have been violated. Consequently, the government of India is obligated under international law to investigate all cases of alleged disappearances across Punjab."
