Raid at India office aimed at silencing critics: Amnesty

Bengaluru office raided on suspicion that it had violated foreign direct investment guidelines

Human rights watchdog Amnesty said that a 10hour raid at its southern Indian office by the financial crime investigating agency on Thursday was part of the government’s attempts at “silencing” its critics.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched Amnesty’s Bengaluru office on suspicion that it had violated foreign direct investment guidelines and said that further investigations were ongoing.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist government has tightened surveillance on non-profit groups over the past four years, saying they are acting against India’s interests.

Licences of thousands of foreign-funded groups, including one backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have been cancelled or suspended on charges such as misreporting of donations.

Amnesty, which regularly accuses India of human rights violations in Kashmir, said more than five ED officials raided its office, ordered employees to stay put and searched their desks. Employees were also told to shut their laptops and were not allowed to use their phones to call friends and families, Amnesty said, adding that it fully cooperated.

“The ED raid on Amnesty India shows a disturbing pattern of the government silencing organisations that question power,” it said on Twitter on Friday. “It is clear that the government wants to instill fear among civil society organisations.” A government spokesman did not immediately reply to a text message seeking comment.

Critics says that the government has been using the foreign funding law as a tool to silence non-profit groups, which have raised concerns about the social costs of India’s rapid economic development.

In 2015, the Ministry of Home Affairs put Ford Foundation on a watch list and suspended environmental campaigner Greenpeace’s licence.