Journal of the National Human Rights Commission

The inaugural issue of the Journal of the National Human Rights Commission was released by the President of India on 10 December 2002. The Journal seeks to catalyze new thinking in respect of the protection of human rights and the promotion of human dignity in the country. It is also the purpose of the Journal to facilitate the sharing of ideas, experience and information on human rights issues both at the national and international levels. The Journal will facilitate research, provide an important platform for building a body of high quality scholarship on human rights, and bring together the community of human rights scholars. The Journal could, in course of time, contribute to symposia and seminars on important human rights issues, and be a source of new ideas and inspiration for policy makers, offering critical commentary on judicial pronouncements on human rights laws in the best academic tradition.



The Journal, which will be brought out annually, will focus on three broad themes. First, each issue will discuss in depth selected new developments in Indian human rights law. Second, the Journal will highlight different on-going struggles for human dignity. Third, the Journal will discuss important developments on selected human rights issues. In addition, the Journal will also review leading books published on human rights nationally and internationally.



The inaugural issue, under the heading of Human Rights: New Dimensions, contains articles entitled “Human Rights Redefined: The New Universe of Human Rights” by Justice J.S. Verma, Chairperson, NHRC; “The Constitution and Human Rights: An Overview” by Fali S. Nariman, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India; “Evolution of the National Human Rights Commission, 1993-2002: A Decennial View” by Shri Virendra Dayal, Member, NHRC. Under the section Struggles for Human Dignity, the Journal contains article on “Domestic Violence and the Law” by Indira Jaising, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India; “Rights of Tribals” by B.D. Sharma, Former Commissioner, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; “Rights of Dalits” by G.Haragopal, Professor, Department of Political Science, Hyderabad Central University; “Rights of the Disabled” by Anuradha Mohit, Special Rapporteur on Disability Issues, NHRC. Under the section Current Issues, there are notes under the headings “Gujarat Intervention” by Dipankar Gupta, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India; “Right to Know” by Kamini Jaiswal, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India; in addition, some Important Orders of the NHRC on Gujarat are included in this section, as is the Opinion of the National Human Rights Commission on The Freedom of Information Bill, 2000; and the Statement of the NHRC at the World Conference on Racism, held at Durban. The section on books includes a review of Professor Upendra Baxi’s recent study “Future of Human Rights” by Shri G. Mohan Gopal, Director and Professor of Law, National Law School of India University, Bangalore.



The editorial board of the Journal comprises Justice J.S. Verma, Chairperson, NHRC; Shri Virendra Dayal, Member NHRC; Shri Dipankar P. Gupta, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court; Shri Fali S. Nariman, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court; Dr. G. Mohan Gopal, Director, NLSIU, Bangalore; Dr. Rajeev Dhavan, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court; Shri P.C. Sen, Secretary General, NHRC; Shri A.K.Sharma, Director (Retired), NCERT and Prof. M.C. Sharma, Advisor (Research), NHRC.