The Commission, together with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) held the Annual Inter Para-military Forces Debate Competition on Human Rights on 18 December 2003 in New Delhi. The competition is organized annually and is an effort to sensitize the para-military forces on the importance of Human Rights. This year's topic for the debate was "Special legislation is necessary for effectively combating terrorism in the country".
32 personnel from the 8 Central Police Organizations - BSF, CRPF, CISF, NSG, Assam Rifles, ITBP, SSB and RPF participated.
The Chairperson, Dr. Justice A.S. Anand who was the Chief Guest on the occasion reiterated that there is a need to enact legislation to combat terrorism but this should not be at the cost of human rights. As terrorism strikes at the root of democracy there is need for a suitable innovative legislation to combat the threat. He, however, cautioned that state terrorism is not an answer to combating terrorism, as under no circumstances it could be allowed in any country governed by the rule of law.
The panel of judges of Justice Shri Y. Bhaskar Rao, Member, NHRC, Shri J.N. Saxena, IPS (Retd.) and Shri Jai Raina, Asstt. Bureau Chief, Hindustan Times, adjudged CRPF and NSG as joint winners for this year.