(CHG HEADLINE)

Amnesty unlikely to get nod to set up South Asian hub in India New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) The government is unlikely togrant permission to Amnesty International, slapped with chargeof sedition for hosting an event where anti-India slogans wereallegedly raised, for opening a hub in India to look after itsoperations in South Asia. The authorities have also decided to ask Amnesty India toget itself registered under the Foreign ContributionRegulation Act (FCRA) after a preliminary inquiry found theorganisation had "bypassed" laws while accepting foreign fundsin the last 16 years. The Amnesty International had in 2014 and 2015 issuedstatements to the media making it clear that it would notregister under the FCRA, which it described as "much-abused". "The act was, and is, a much-abused law, and NGOs haveexperienced the unfairness of it both in the bureaucraticsense of inordinate delays and in the more overt sense of itbeing used too often to curb the freedom of expression ofNGOs, especially those that work on the issues that hold upthe mirror and demand accountability from the powers that be,"it had said. The Amnesty has registered a non-profit organisation inthe name of Amnesty International South Asia Foundation onMay 8, 2015. Soon after, it sought the government’s permission to opena hub to look after its activities in South Asia, excludingIndia, and wanted to bring in foreign funds to the tune of Rs18,61,92,688 under the prior permission category for itsoperations. "The application (for setting up the hub) is underexamination and in all likelihood we are going to deny thepermission as we have found that the NGO has been gettingforeign funds without registering under FCRA, thus bypassinglaws," a senior Home Ministry official said. During preliminary inquiry, the official said, the HomeMinistry found that the NGO received Great Britain Pound (GBP)3,52,057 (Rs 3,09,35,248) and Rs 2,23,99,226 in four separateinstalments since 2000 without having registered under theFCRA. "All NGOs whose expenses are Rs 10 lakh or more in threepreceding years have to register under the FCRA. But theAmnesty has not applied for FCRA registration yet. We aregoing to tell them to register under the FCRA first," theofficial said. At the Bengaluru event organised by the Amnesty onSaturday, anti-India slogans were allegedly raised during adiscussion on Kashmir, prompting the authorities to book theNGO under various IPC sections including sedition. Amnesty, on its part, has rejected as "without substance"the allegations made by ABVP, the students wing of RSS, whichhad also filed a police complaint in connection with the eventand submitted a CD of the proceedings, and claimed that noneof its employees shouted any anti-India slogans at any point.PTI ACB SKL SKSKSK