PHRO Reconstituted; RTI Reveals 194 OCI Registrations Cancelled in 11 Years

Amid growing concerns over human rights violations, the Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO), once led by the late Justice Ajit Singh Bains (1922-2022), has been reconstituted. Justice Ranjit Singh, former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge has been unanimously appointed as its new chairman. The decision was taken during a meeting of over two dozen human rights activists held on Saturday at Guru Granth Sahib Bhawan, Chandigarh. A draft outlining the organization's declaration and structural framework was presented and unanimously adopted after detailed discussions. Former Baba Farid University of Health Sciences Registrar Dr Piara Lal Garg, was elected as vice chairman. The following were appointed: Malvinder Singh Mali as general secretary, advocate Rajvinder Singh Bains as head of legal wing, advocate Sarabjit Singh Verka as head of research wing, and senior journalist Hamir Singh as organizing secretary. The meeting also resolved to elect office bearers and establish district-level committees to strengthen grassroots engagement. Meanwhile, according to data obtained by media house The Hindu under the Right to Information Act, in 2024, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) cancelled 57 Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) registrations under Section 7D of the Citizenship Act, 1955. The number is nearly half the number of cancellations in the previous 10 years. The MHA executed 122 such cancellations from 2014 to 2023. OCI is the Indian response to demands for recognition of dual nationality, and OCI card holders, are typically people of Indian descent who no longer live in the country or are foreign nationals married to Indians and have historically been able to travel freely within India and work in the country, with the caveat that they cannot vote or own agricultural land. In 2021, long-term visas of 12 Persons of Indian Origin, mostly Sikhs, in Canada and OCI cardholders were cancelled for their role in Farmers Protest 1.0 (2020-2021) which MHA declared as 'anti-India protests.’