Shri Sharad Chandra Sinha takes over as Member, NHRC<br>

Shri Sharad Chandra Sinha took office as a Member of the National Human Rights Commission on 8th April, 2013. He is a 1975 batch IPS officer of Haryana Cadre. Born on 30th October, 1953, Shri Sinha belongs to Lucknow, (UP). He did Masters in Physics from Lucknow University before joining the IPS. Prior to his appointment to the NHRC, he was heading the National Investigation Agency as its Director General. He headed the NIA for 3 years and presided over the growth of NIA into the premier counter terrorism Investigation Agency of the country. He has held several important positions in the State and Central Government, including the posts of Director General, State Vigilance Bureau, Haryana and has worked in CBI in various capacities including that of a Superintendent of Police, Joint Director, Additional Director and Special Director.
Shri Sinha has a formidable reputation for always upholding the rule of law and for protection and promotion of human rights. His penchant for protecting the human rights was fully discernible while he was serving the Haryana police in different capacities and also in his handling investigations during his tenure in the CBI and the NIA. He is also credited with expeditious investigations into several complaints referred to the CBI by the NHRC. These related to alleged fake encounters by police and wrongful detentions. He was awarded Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1992 and President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2003.
He, in a time bound manner, successfully investigated cases, which had hogged the headlines in media for human rights violations. Investigation into recovery of dead bodies of two women of Shopian Town in Jammu & Kashmir and completing the same in a short span of three months leading to normalcy in the State in 2009 is one such example. Similarly bringing guilty to justice in the killing of a young man in a police encounter in Dehradun City in 2009, investigation into burning of 40-50 houses of 'Pardis' (a de-notified criminal tribe in Madhya Pradesh), and in the mysterious murder of a journalist Umesh Dobhal of Pauri Garhwal are some other examples of most talked about cases handled by Shri Sinha.
It is to his credit that during his 3 years tenure as NIA Chief, the Agency investigated cases of terrorism, North-Eastern insurgency and Left wing extremism, without even a single complaint of human rights violations in the process. His re-investigation into Malegaon bomb blast post-CBI enquiry prepared the ground for the release of 9 persons lodged in jail since 2006 in the case who were found to be wrongly accused while the real perpetrators were arrested.
Shri Sinha has participated in a number of national and international conferences on terrorism and counter-terrorism in addition to the Asian Regional Conference, Interpol, Manila. He also led the Indian delegation to UN Conference on Transnational Organised Crime at Vienna and OECD Conference on Bribery in International Business in Paris, France.