Army Respects Rights Of Adversaries: Rawat

Its rights cell will have policemen to redress complaints

Army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat on Friday asserted that the Indian armed forces have the utmost respect for human rights and pointed out that the Human Rights Cell in the Army headquarters was being upgraded to the level of a Directorate.

His comments come a day after he said students leading crowds to carry out arson and violence is not leadership, in an apparent reference to the protests across the country against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

“The armed forces not only ensure the protection of human rights of our own people but also of adversaries and deal with the prisoners of war as per the Geneva Conventions,” he said, while speaking on ‘Preserving Human Rights in Times of War and Prisoners of War’, at the National Human Rights Commission.