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The Indian Constitution does not contain any specific provision which
obliges the State to enforce or implement international treaties and conventions
including implementation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). It,
however, enjoins the State to foster respect for international law and treaty
obligations..."1 and empowers Parliament "to make laws ... for implementing
any treaty, agreement or convention with any other country or countries...2 In
addition, Entry 14 in the Union List confers on the Parliament exclusive power
to make laws with respect to "entering into treaties and agreements with foreign
countries and implementing treaties, agreements and conventions with foreign
countries." A joint reading of all these provisions as well as-an analysis of the
case law on the subject shows that international treaties, covenants, conventions
and agreements can become part of the domestic law (municipal law) in India
only if they are specifically incorporated in the law of the land. In other words,
they are not self-operating in India; they have to be internalised and specifically
made part of the domestic law. As aptly put by Justice Krishna Iyer,
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"International conventional law must go through the process of transformation
into municipal law before the international treaty could become an internal
law."3
Art. 51 which enjoins the State to foster respect for international law
and treaty obligations, does not deal with the enforcement or
implementation of treaties.
Art. 253 make it clear that treaties and covenants are not self -
operating in India. They have to be incorporated in the domestic law
for implementation.
Indian courts will not enforce the terms of a treaty or covenant unless
Parliament makes a law incorporating its provisions.
Respect for international law is displayed by a State by observing the
principles of the law in domestic law (municipal law). The courts
may apply those principles on the theory of implied adoption,
provided such principles are not inconsistent with the Constitution
and the national legislation.
If there is a conflict between international law and domestic law,
courts are bound to follow the domestic law.
In interpreting a statute, the courts would construe it in such a way as
to avoid conflict with the principles of international law. In other
words, if there is no conflict between international law and domestic
3 Jolly George Varghese v. Bank of Cochin, AIR 1980 SC 470. See also Maganbhai v. Union of India,
AIR 1969 SC 783; Shiv Kumar Sharma v. Union of India, AIR 1969 Del. 74; Gramophone Company
ofIndia Ltd. v. Birendra Bahadur Pandey, AIR 1984 SC 667; Civil Rights Vigilance Committee, SLRC
College of Law, Bangalore v. Union of India, AIR 1983 Kant. 85.
4 M. K. Balachandran (Executive Director, ICHLR, New Delhi), Bulletin on IHL & Refugee Law [Vol.
1, No. 1], 1996,pp.67
202
law or where two constructions of the domestic law are possible,
Indian courts can give effect to international law by a harmonious
construction.
If the rights of the citizens or others are not affected, no legislative
measure is needed to give effect to the agreement or treaty, but
making of law is necessary when the treaty or agreement operates to
restrict the rights of citizens or others or modifies the laws of the
State.
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national Humanitarian Law? Does it not confer a license on the armed forces to
commit even: 'grave breaches' of the Conventions without being subject to any
penal sanctions?
It is, however, interesting to note that there are a few provisions in the
Constitution which have some bearing on IHL principles. The Preamble to the
Constitution which declares the general purposes for which the several
provisions in the Constitution have been made, assures "the dignity of the
individual" which is the basic objective of the IHL. Similarly, the right to life
and personal liberty, the right to equality and the right against exploitation
which are guaranteed under the Constitution to 'any person which expression
includes citizens as well as non-citizens - have close resemblance to the IHL
principles. Thus, Art. 21 of the Constitution which proclaims that "No person
shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure
established by law", is a guarantee against' grave breaches' of the Conventions.
The' right to life' under this Article has been given an expansive interpretation
by the judiciary by declaring that it means something more than mere animal
existence. It would include 'right to live with human dignity'. As applied to a
prisoner this would include the right to the bare necessities of life such as
adequate nutrition, clothing, shelter, facilities for reading, writing, interviews
with members of his family and friends, subject of course to prison regulations,
if any.7 It casts an obligation upon the State to preserve the life of every person
by offering immediate medical aid to every patient, regardless of whether he is
innocent or guilty8 and to provide humane conditions in prison.9 The right to
personal liberty has been interpreted to include, inter alia, the right against
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custodial violence including mental torture, psychic pressure and physical
infliction, right against handcuffing and the rights of children in jail to special
treatment. The cumulative effect of these wide interpretations is the recognition
of the prisoner's right to remain as a human being notwithstanding his
imprisonment and his entitlements to the minimum human rights. Apart from
these, the right to equality (Art. 14) and the right against exploitation (Art.
23(1)) which rights are guaranteed to all persons including non-citizens are
reflections of IHL principles in the Indian Constitution.
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these principles can be found in the Geneva Conventions also.12 Similarly, the
principles laid down in Art. 22 of the Constitution dealing with protection
against arrest and detention in certain cases are also found in some of the
provisions of the Geneva Conventions.13
Thus, even though the Constitution does not directly provide for the
implementation of IHL principles, the constitutional obligation of the judiciary
to enforce these fundamental human rights may indirectly uphold the principles
of IHL enshrined in the Geneva' Conventions.
Among the domestic legislation, the only law that directly deals with the
principles of IHL is the Geneva Conventions Act of 1960. This Act was
enacted by the Indian Parliament in view of the constitutional requirement as
well as the obligation cast by the Geneva Conventions upon the High
Contracting Parties to enact legislation necessary to provide effective penal
sanctions for persons committing or ordering to be committed any of the grave
breaches" of the Conventions as defined under them14 and "to enable effect to
be given to certain International Conventions done at Geneva on the twelfth of
August, 1949"15 under Art. 253 read with Entry 13 and 14 of List 1 of the
Seventh Schedule to the Constitution. 'Grave breaches' are defined under each
of the Conventions 16and they include generally such acts as wilful killing,
torture or inhuman-treatment including biological experiments, wilfully causing
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great suffering or serious'injury to body or health, extensive destruction and
appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out
unlawfully and wantonly if committed against persons or property protected by
the Convention.17 They also include compelling a prisoner of war to serve in
the forces of the hostile power or wilfully depriving a prisoner of war of the
rights of fair and regular trial prescribed in the Convention,18 unlawful
deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person and
taking them as hostages.19
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Thus, the main objectives of the Act are to implement the provisions of
the 1949 Conventions relating to punishment for grave breaches and to prevent
and punish abuse of the Red Cross and other emblems.
Chapter I deals with the title, extent and commencement of the Act and
defines certain key words such as 'Conventions', 'protected internee', 'protecting
power' and 'protected prisoner of war'.20
Chapter III lays down the procedure of trial of protected persons and certain
Other persons and provides for giving of notice and legal representation to
20 Section 2
21 Section 3
22 Section 5
23 Section 3
24 Section 5
25 Section 7
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them.26
Chapter IV seeks to prevent the abuse of the Red Cross and other emblems
by prohibiting their use by any person without the approval of the Central
Government and provides for penalties for such abuses.27
Chapter V deals with cognizance of offences under the Act and the powers
of the central government to make rules. Section 17 of the Act specifically
prohibits the courts from taking cognizance of any offence under the Act except
on a complaint by the Government or of an officer designated by the Central
Government by notification in the official gazette.28
By section 20 of the Act, the existing law on the subject viz., the Geneva
Convention Implementing Act of 1936 was repealed and the U.K. Geneva
Convention Act of 1911 as applied to India, eased to have effect as part of the
law of India.
A careful scrutiny of the provisions of the Act will reveal the fact that
the Act does not give any specific right to any person to approach the court
against violations of the Conventions; nor does it prescribe any method which
an aggrieved party must adopt to move the Municipal Court. It only deals with
punishment for grave breaches and the jurisdiction of the court to deal with
such breaches. Moreover, section 17 imposes a blanket ban on the courts from
entertaining any complaint unless it is filed by the government or an officer of
the government specified by notification, indicating thereby that an aggrieved
26 Section 8
27 Section 12 to 16
28 Section 17
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party can approach the court only through the government for enforcing the
provisions of the Act. Thus, if the violator is an agency of the government (as is
generally the case) like military or army personnel, it is most unlikely that the
government will make a complaint to the court against such violations.
This may be substantiated by quoting the case from Chile where the
soldiers who were involved in wilful killing of the supporters of the former
President, thus committing a grave breach of the Convention, were given
amnesty by the military government. In this case, however, the Appeal Court in
the country struck down the amnesty by observing that "if the country was at
war, then the regime was bound by the Geneva Conventions which was written
into the Constitution in 1989... II the Geneva Conventions superseded the
domestic laws, the court held. All the cases are reported to have been reopened
and investigations are going on.30
In the first (and probably the only) case31 that came up before the Indian
Supreme Court for the interpretation of the Geneva Conventions Act, 1960, the
court made the following observations about the efficacy of the Act:
29 M. K. Balachandran (Executive Director, ICHLR, New Delhi), Bulletin on IHL & Refugee Law [Vol.
1, No.l],1996,pp.366
30 ibid
31 Rev. Mons. Sebastian Francisco Zavier Dos Remedious Monterio v. The State of Goa, AIR 1970 SC
329 Decided on 26.3.1969
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"... the Act by itself does not give any special remedy. It does give
indirect protection by providing for breaches of Conventions. The
Conventions are not made enforceable by the government against
itself nor does the Act give a cause of action to any party for the
enforcement of the Conventions. Thus, there is only an obligation
undertaken by the Government of India to respect the Conventions
regarding the treatment of civilian population, but there is no right
created in respect of protected persons which the court has been
asked to enforce."
"If there is no provision of law which the courts can enforce, the
court may be powerless and the court may have to leave the matter to
what Westlake aptly described as indignation ofmankind."
Problems of Implementation
The implementation of the Act is vested with the ordinary criminal courts
in the country. Of course, the Conventions require the High Contracting Parties
to bring the violations before their own courts for trial but since the procedure
before the ordinary criminal courts in the country is tardy and time consuming,
it is quite unlikely that the implementation will be effective if left to the
ordinary courts. This point has been very well brought out by the Supreme
Court in one of its recent pronouncements, where the court observed:
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excel in slow motion. The procedure is dilatory, the dockets are heavy,
even the service of the process is delayed and still more exasperating,
there are appeals upon appeals and revisions and supervisory juris
dictions, baffling and baulking speedy termination of prosecutions...
And if ever the case reaches the stage of trial after all these
interruptions, the time would have taken its own toll: the witnesses are
won over; evidence disappears; the prosecution loses its interest"32
Under the Conventions, the contracting parties are not only required to
take necessary legislative action to prevent or repress violations, but are also
obliged "to search for persons alleged to have committed or to have ordered to
have committed such grave breaches and to bring them to trial".34 It is,
therefore, suggested that an institution like the Human Rights Commission or a
separate investigating agency may be provided to be set up to undertake the
task of searching and prosecuting guilty parties. Here also, the example of the
provision in the Protection of Human Rights Act providing for the constitution
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of special investigation teams "for purposes of investigation and prosecution of
offences arising out of violations of human rights"35 may be followed.
35 Section 37.
36 Section 12.
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martial and punished as provided in the section.37
The Act is applicable not only to those army personnel who are on active
service, but also to camp followers like carpenters, tailors, cooks etc. who are
required to follow or accompany armed personnel who are on active service in
camp, on the march or at any frontier post38 Civil offence is defined under the
Act to mean an offence which is triable by a criminal court and a criminal
court' means a court of ordinary criminal justice in any part of India.
37 The corresponding provisions in other legislation are: Section 71 of the Air Force Act, Sections 77 and
78(1) of the Navy Act, Section 46 of the BSF Act and Section 49 of the Coast Guards Act.
38 Gopal Upadhyaya v. Union of India, AIR 1987 SC 413.
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accused should be tried by a criminal court or court-martial and if the authority
decides that he should be tried before a court-martial, the accused is to be
detained in military custody.
The Supreme Court while interpreting these provisions in the Army Act,
bas categorically declared that "it (the Army Act) does not bar the jurisdiction
of criminal courts in respect of acts or omissions punishable under any other
law in force in India, nor is it possible to infer any prohibition by necessary
implication"40
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court as well the court martial have concurrent jurisdiction.41
The combined effect of the statutory provisions under sections 125 and
126 of the Army Act and the rules framed under the Criminal Procedure Code
may be summed up as follows:42
41
M. K. Balachandran, Bulletin on IHL & Refugee Law [Vol. 1, No.l],1996,pp.97
42
ibid
216
If no effectual proceedings are taken by the military authority within
a reasonable time, the Magistrate is required to report the
circumstances to the state government which may in consultation
with the central government take appropriate steps to ensure that the
accused The constitutional validity of Section 125 of the Army Act
was challenged before the Supreme Court on the ground that its
provisions are discriminatory and are violative of Art. 14 of the
Constitution in as much as it is left to the unguided discretion of the
military authority to decide whether the accused should be tried by a
court-martial or criminal court. The court rejected the contention and
upheld the validity of the section by holding that the discretion was
not unguided.
It may, therefore, be seen that the offences of grave breaches under the
Geneva Conventions Act if committed by persons subject to the Army Act may
fall within the scope of section 69 of the Army Act, to be tried by court-martial;
but it does not bar the jurisdiction of the ordinary criminal court to try such
offences as envisaged under the Geneva Conventions Act, if the required
procedure laid down under section 125 and 126 as well as the rules under the
Criminal Courts and Court-Martial (Adjustment of Jurisdiction) Rules, 1978
are followed. It may also be seen that the provisions in the rules which require
the Military authority to inform the magistrate of the action taken against the
accused and the duty of the Magistrate to report to the state government if no
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effectual proceedings are taken against the accused will have a "compelling
effect on the military authority to try the accused or take effectual proceedings
against him. This might ensure effective action against offenders of grave
breaches' of the Geneva Conventions also, whether they are tried by a court-
martial or by an ordinary criminal court as envisaged under the Geneva
Conventions Act, 1960.
The Indian Penal Code provides penal sanctions for a large number of
offences against persons and property committed by individuals but there is no
reference to armed conflicts in relation to any such offences. They include
crimes against humanity, infringement of human rights and-those offences
relating to the Army, Navy and Air Force44, but do not deal with' grave
breaches' mentioned in the Geneva Conventions. Some of the offences,
however, resemble the grave breaches' as defined in the Conventions, such as
culpable homicide causing death by doing an act with the intention of causing
death (wilful killing under the Convention) or grievous hurt voluntarily
causing grievous hurt (torture under the Conventions), but since they relate to
offences committed by individuals without reference to war crimes, they may
not fit under the category of violations of International Humanitarian Law.
218