Some important interventions of NHRC

New Delhi August 21, 2008
The National Human Rights Commission of India, an `A' category Paris Principles compliant National Institution is an autonomous institution, with full financial and functional autonomy. Set up in 1993 under an Act of the Parliament, namely, the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, it has a wide mandate for better protection and promotion of Human Rights. Though a recommendatory body, the reports of the Commission are placed in the Parliament with the action taken report by the Government. For the past 14 years, the Commission has been working relentlessly to mitigate the sufferings of those who have been subjected to human rights violations.

There are a number of instances where the Commission intervened to safeguard the human rights of the citizens. Some of the major interventions of the Commission are :

The Commission took cognizance of many individual cases of displacement on account of mega projects, disasters and conflicts. Recently the Commission held a "National Conference on Relief and Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons" in New Delhi where it carefully examined the provisions of the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2007 and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2007. At present the Commission is making detailed recommendations in respect of these draft legislations.

The Commission also took cognizance of killing of 12 adivasis protesting in Kalinganagar in Orissa and called for a report from the State DGP. The matter is still under consideration of the Commission. Further, the Commission took cognizance of a complaint regarding use of excessive force by the police against protesters at Badwani in Madhya Pradesh which led to injuries to 10 people and detention of 92 others for protest against forced displacement caused by Narmada Project. As the law has been set in motion by registering cases against the protestors as well as police personnel, the matter has been closed.

In the matter of violence in the aftermath of Godhra incident in Gujarat, the Commission filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court and ensured that guilty persons were brought to book. The Commission also made several recommendations for rehabilitation of the victims. On receipt of a complaint regarding the plight of 5000 displaced families in Gujarat, it directed its Special Rapporteur to visit 69 make-shift rehabilitation colonies across 8 districts of the State for an on-the-spot assessment of rehabilitation measures undertaken and submit a report to the Commission. The Special Rapporteur had already visited some areas and submitted report.

The violence in Nandigram also drew the attention of the Commission. After the violent clashes of November 6, 2007 the Commission directed spot investigation by a team of its Investigating Officers. After going through the report submitted by the Investigation Team, the Commission recommended that the next of kin of the deceased as also the injured in the November 6, incident should be given monetary relief in the same manner as directed by the High Court of Kolkata for the victims of the incident of March 14, 2007 i.e. Rs. 5 lakhs each to the next of kin of those who lost their lives. The compensation that the State Government proposed for damaged houses appeared to be inadequate. The Commission therefore, appointed a Committee headed by its Secretary General to suggest compensation regarding the damage and to ensure that the monetary relief reached the genuine persons. The Committee visited the area and submitted its report. Upon further consideration of the matter, on April 9, 2008, the Commission accepted the recommendations made by the Committee and forwarded them to the State Government for compliance.

The Commission took cognizance of alleged atrocities by Madhya Pradesh State Police and Forest Department on 1500 landless tribals in Ghateha Village of Rewa District on April 19, 2007. The Commission called for reports from DGP, MP and Collector, Rewa and the matter is still under consideration.

High suicide rates by debt-ridden farmers continued in some States, including Maharastra despite some relief measures. The Commission took suo motu cognizance of the reports about suicide by farmers. The Government of Maharashtra in its report informed the Commission that it had appointed a Committee at District level under the Chairmanship of District Collector to monitor and supervise the implementation of various schemes, to assist farmers and to curb, dissuade them from committing suicide. Families of farmers who had committed suicide were being provided financial assistance as per norms laid down by the State Government. The Government of Andhra Pradesh had also constituted a Farmers Welfare Commission to go into the causes of suicide. The Commission has set up a Committee to study the problem and suggest solutions.

The NHRC took cognizance of issue of inadequate access to health care in adivasi communities of south Orissa. Keeping the plight of these communities in mind, the Commission recommended for improvement of manpower in rural areas followed by other systemic recommendations on Right to Health.

Violence against adivasis by Maoists and Salwa Judum in Dantewada, Chattisgarh was brought to the notice of the Commission. The Commission called for a report from the State Government. While the matter was under consideration of the Commission, the Supreme Court on the basis of a writ petition filed before it, directed the Commission to examine/verify allegations relating to violation of human rights by Naxalites and Salwa Judum and the living conditions in the refugee settlement colonies. The Supreme Court asked the Commission to appoint an appropriate fact finding Committee and submit a report. In compliance with the directions of the Apex Court, a team from Investigation Division in the Commission visited remote tribal and forest areas of Chattisgarh and the adjoining State of Andhra Pradesh, for collecting facts. There were incidents of attack on police by some groups during the visit of the team. Threat to their lives did not deter the team from performing their assigned task and they completed the visit. The report of the team is being finalized for submission before the Apex Court for its consideration.
As the Convention against torture has not yet been ratified by India, the Commission has been advocating early ratification of the Convention.
The Commission is also concerned about allegations of impunity of State and non-State players for torture, deaths in custody, abductions and unlawful killings. Taking suo motu cognizance of newspaper reports as well as representations received from Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in J&K, a case was registered. The Commission obtained and considered the reports submitted by the State Government and the Ministry of Defence. The Commission found that many persons who were alleged to have disappeared were not missing in fact and there was every possibility of exaggeration. In many cases, complete and correct particulars had not been given by APDP to facilitate the enquiry. Moreover, many cases figuring in the list of APDP were very old, as far back as 1989. Since enquiry reports in most of the cases had been received, the Commission was of the opinion that no further action was needed. The case was therefore closed on August 6, 2007.
In the year 1996, the Commission took up the issue of alleged mass cremation of 2,097 unidentified dead bodies in Punjab during 1984-94, on remit from the Supreme Court. Two writ petitions filed in the Supreme Court made serious allegations about large scale cremations resorted to by the Punjab police of persons allegedly killed in encounters. The Supreme Court ordered an inquiry by the CBI. Further to the report submitted by the CBI, the matter was referred to the Commission. The compensation awarded by the Commission was directed to be binding and payable. The Commission took up the gigantic exercise which involved due participation by the Punjab Police, the State Government and those affected before the Commission. Advertisement was issued inviting claims from individuals for facilitating identification of bodies by the Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice (retired) Shri K.S. Bhalla. The Commission was able to identify 1388 bodies out of 2097. During this process, the Commission was able to award a total of Rs. 2575.25 lakh as monetary relief in respect of 195 persons identified, who were in deemed custody and 1193 other persons identified. Although the exercise had been time consuming being a quasi-judicial process-involving grant of adequate opportunity to the parties, it resulted in provision of justice and monetary relief to a substantial percentage of the next of kin of the deceased. 657 bodies remain to be identified and the Commission has appointed a High Powered Committee to record evidence and identify the remaining bodies.
In January 2007, the Commission, based on the report submitted by a Fact Finding Committee head by Justice A.J. Sadashiva recommended monetary relief of nearly Rs. 3 crores for 89 victims of atrocities by Joint Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Task Force formed to apprehend forest brigand Veerappan. The Commission also secured compliance of its recommendations. Further proceedings are continuing.
As regards the arrest of Dr. Binayak Sen, his bail application was rejected by the High Court as well as by the Supreme Court on the ground that there was sufficient incriminating evidence against him. In the face of pronouncement of High Court and Supreme Court, the Commission could not have intervened.
In the first year of its establishment (in 1993-94), the Commission received only 496 complaints of violation of human rights. The number steadily increased over the years and during the financial year 2007-2008, the Commission received 100,616 complaints. The Commission disposed of 101,272 complaints which included complaints carried forward from the previous years.
The Commission has been playing an active role in the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions Bureau, the Asia Pacific Forum of NHRIs and the Commonwealth Forum of NHRIs. It has extended technical assistance to the National Human Rights Commissions in Nepal, Jordan, Maldives, Rwanda, Uganda and several others, in particular in developing their Complaint Management Systems. Presently, it is hosting and maintaining the Website for all NHRIs.

In the last 14 years, the Commission has taken several measures to promote a culture of human rights in the country. These include awareness programmes by way of imparting training and bringing out publications, Seminars and Workshops on human rights issues, reviewing various laws/ rules from human rights perspective and making recommendations to make them more human rights friendly, assess implementation of various programmes/ schemes of Government which have bearing upon enforcement of human rights and make suggestions for better implementation/ enforcement.

In order to spread human rights awareness, recently the Commission selected 28 districts in the country, one in each State, for direct interaction with their field level functionaries. In this effort, the special attention will be on (i) food security, (ii) right to education, (iii) right to health, hygiene and sanitation, (iv) custodial justice, (v) human rights issues of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), (vi) right to culture and protection of Community Assets and (vii) right to life, living conditions and nature of responsibility of Government and Panchayat (unit of local self-government). Interactions in two districts have been completed.

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