By Manasi Nene
On Tuesday, the UN appointed noted human-rights lawyer and Supreme Court advocate Indira Jaising to lead a probe that would investigate alleged rape, torture and killings against Rohingya Muslims, in Myanmar’s state of Rakhine. The other members of the panel are Sri Lankan lawyer Radhika Coomaraswamy and consultant Christopher Dominic.
Last October, the Myanmar forces carried out an attack on their border, which led about 75,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee into Bangladesh. A UN report from February claims that the mass killings and sexual violence in this attack very likely amounts to crimes against humanity, and adopted a resolution to look further into it. Both India and China have distanced themselves from the proceedings. Myanmar’s diplomats have called the resolution “not acceptable” as well, but the team led by Jaising will still present their findings in March 2018.
Jaising is the cofounder of the Lawyers’ Collective, and is noted for her dedication to feminist and left-wing causes, and in 2009 she was the first woman to be appointed Additional Solicitor General of India. She has also represented victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy against Union Carbide, has been associated with several commissions that investigated extra-judicial violence in Punjab, and has drafted India’s first domestic violence act.