National Human Rights Commission

Introduction : National Commission for Human Rights is an autonomous public bodywhich

was accorded statutory basis by The Protection of Human Rights Act (TPHRA), 1993.

It is a national human rights institution responsible for protection and promotion of Human
Rights (HR).

Definition of Human Rights under TPHRA 1993

Human Rights means rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual,
guaranteed by Constitution or embodied in international covenants and enforceable by Courts
in India.

Functions of National Human Rights Commission

 Inquire, on its own or on a petition filed by victim / representative the victim, about
1. Violation of Human Rights
2. Whether any public servant was negligent in prevention of such violation
 Intervene in any proceeding of Human Rights violation case pending before Court but by
approval of Court.
 Any jail under control of state governments for studying the wrong inmates but prior
intimation to state governments is made.
 Review the working of safeguards of Human Rights.
 Study of treaties and other international instrument for Human Rights and make
recommendations for their effective implement.
 Spread awareness of Human Rights, promote NGO working in this field.

Powers of National Human Rights Commission

All the powers of Civil Court trying, under CPC 1908.

 National Human Rights Commission has its own investigation staff headed by DGP. Also
it unto commission to utilize any officer or investigation agency of government and can
even involve NGOs.

Autonomy & Appointment

 It is an autonomous body as Chairman & its members have specific method of
selection, Tenures, statutory guarantees in way their staff is selected and conduct
themselves.
The Chairman and members of the Commission are appointed by President on the
basis of recommendations of committee consisting of
(a) Prime Minister – Chairman
(b) Speaker of Lok Sabha
(c) Home Minister
(d) Leader of Opposition of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
(e) Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha

Major Initiatives

 Civil Liberties
 Review of statutes, including TADA and POTA (draft).
 Protection of Human Rights in areas of insurgency and terrorism.
 Guideline to check misuse of power to arrest by police.
 Steps to check custodial deaths, rape and torture.
 Discussion on adoption of Refugee Law for the country.
 Elimination of bonded labour and child labour issues concerning to Right to Food.
 Promotion and protection of the rights of disabled.
 Human Rights training to police, armed forces, public authorities, students, etc.

Composition of National Human Rights Commission

 Chairperson – Retired Chief Justice of India (Supreme Court)

 One Member – Judge of Supreme Court
 One Member – Chief Justice of High Court
 Two Members – Members having knowledge of Human Rights issues
 Ex – officio members – Chairpersons of National Commission for Scheduled Castes,
National Commission for Women, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes,
National Commission for Minorities
 Recent Cases

 National human Rights Commission to take up case suo moto i.e. case of Gajendra
Singh, who committed suicide at political party’s rally, if no official complaint is lodged
with the panel (said National Human Rights Commission – K G Balakrishnan)
 National Human Rights Commission an investigating team to find out all information
about killing of 20 people in firing by Andhra Pradesh police in seshachalam forest near
Chittor district.
 In 2002, the Commission under then chairperson J S Verma, was the first official body to
visit Gujarat after the riots, it moved the Supreme Court to transfer the cases outside
the state to secure a fair trial.

Critical Evaluation of National commission for Human Rights

Human rights commissions are most effective when their tasks are adequately supported by
other mechanisms that ensure a government’s accountability.

It is nearly 15 years since the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was established in
India through the adoption of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, by Parliament. Over
the years, more than 15 State Human Rights Commissions (SHRCs) have come up. The effort to
improve the promotion and protection of human rights in India pre-dates the establishment of
the NHRC. Now is a good time to examine not only the functioning and effectiveness of the
NHRC and the SHRCs but also to identify the central challenges relating to human rights in the
future and work towards tackling them. The nature of human rights is such that it immediately
creates unparalleled social expectations and invites powerful civil society scrutiny from national
and international actors. It is important that Human Rights Commissions (HRCs) succeed in their
efforts to promote and protect human rights. The legitimacy and credibility of these
commissions rest on their ability to address the problems relating to human rights in a society.

Accountability

HRCs are relatively new and innovative institutions born out of the initiatives of the United
Nations to ensure domestic protection of human rights. The fact that international human
rights laws have moved toward national constitutionalisation of human rights has strongly
shaped the development of HRCs in numerous jurisdictions. HRCs perform a variety of
functions.

The include investigating alleged violations, conducting public inquiries, exercising advisory
jurisdiction, ensuring the implementation of human rights in prisons and other custodial
institutions, providing advice and assistance to governments, creating awareness, promoting
interaction, exchange, and better coordination among other national human rights institutions
in the region and worldwide, promoting interaction and exchange with non-governmental
organisations, and publishing annual reports.

While there is a high degree of consensus on what ought to be the functions of HRCs, their
actual performance and indeed their institutional effectiveness vary significantly from country
to country.

Some commissions have acquired national legitimacy and international reputation for their
work in protecting and promoting human rights. Some others, in the manner of their creation
and in the exercise of regular functions, reveal the state apparatus’ arm in legitimising
numerous actions that are not in harmony with human rights.

In this regard, the subject of human rights commissions has invited much academic attention in
recent years, besides assessment by U.N. bodies. It has also attracted civil society scrutiny
following independent assessments of the work of several commissions by numerous
international NGOs.

An important point to be noted is that HRCs are not the panacea for all problems related to the
subject in a society. They tend to be effective only under a given set of circumstances, but most
importantly, a lot depends on the level of funding, functional independence, and institutional
autonomy guaranteed to the HRC. Also, the composition of the HRC matters, to a large extent,
in determining the kind of focus and activism it will promote. However, HRCs are important
institutional approaches that can ensure the protection and promotion of human rights.

The effectiveness or otherwise of human rights commissions does not directly depend upon the
existing human rights structure in any society. What is important is how a particular
commission locates itself in a society and is able to confront the issues before it. There are
various ways through which states ensure human rights accountability. Traditional approaches
to human rights protection and promotion have tended to focus on constitutional judicial
review, human rights provisions in the constitution or other legislation in a society, and the
interpretation of these laws by the courts. Such mechanisms directly ensure the enforceability
of human rights through the directions of courts.

However, this method is not without its weaknesses.

Since the courts in most jurisdictions are inundated by civil, criminal, constitutional,
commercial, corporate, and other types of cases, direct focus on human rights issues and cases
tends to be weak. This creates a situation wherein human rights cases have to be themselves
couched in the jargon of administrative or some other public law for them to receive the right
kind of attention from the courts. Moreover, the elaborate legal processes and the procedures
involved in court cases tend to complicate human rights issues in a court environment. Human
rights issues need to be directly and seriously confronted by a body exclusively mandated to
perform such a task. It was this realisation that resulted in international opinion moving
towards the formation of HRCs. They are most effective when their tasks are adequately
supported and supplemented by other legal, judicial, and institutional mechanisms that ensure
the government’s accountability. They cannot work in isolation from courts due to their quasi-
judicial nature and soft power.

Education

A culture of human rights ought to be promoted through education. Human rights education in
India is extremely important, given the fact that society is witness to numerous violations and
abuse of powers and that the ability of the people to fight these injustices is limited.

Awareness relating to rights is very important for empowering the people of India to seek
policies of good governance from the government. The strategy for inculcating human rights
culture among the people needs to be based on a number of factors: social, legal, political,
judicial, and institutional.

Human rights education was a focal point of U.N. activities in creating the United Nations
Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004) in December 1994.

In this process, the United Nations General Assembly defined human rights education as “a life-
long process by which people at all levels of development and in all strata of society learn
respect for the dignity of others and the means and methods of ensuring that respect in all
societies.” The international significance of this is demonstrated by the fact that the UNGA
sought the support of the international community and civil society during 1995-2004 in its
efforts to promote a culture of human rights worldwide through education and training. The
NHRC has taken several significant steps in promoting rights education in India. Recently, it
proposed to include lessons on human rights in the curriculum for schools and colleges. The aim
is to make common citizens understand the subject from the school level itself.

Role of academia

Human rights education in India needs to go beyond the frontiers of academic learning or, for
that matter, professional pursuit. It should aim to forge social transformation and promote a
worldview based on the respect for the rights and freedoms of humanity. Thus, the need for
empowering the people of India cannot be better achieved than by developing varied
components of human rights education. A sustained development of human rights education in
India can result in the promotion of a culture of human rights. The starting point for such a
development can be to develop knowledge and capacity-building in imparting greater
awareness of the Constitution of India and the working of HRCs. In the process of promoting a
culture of human rights, human rights education can also ignite activism on the subject.

In recent years, in the context of formulating a legal and institutional framework for
implementing the right to information, India has witnessed a unique type of civil society
activism that seeks to promote transparency and accountability of the government. Human
rights activism is another facet of accountability-seeking endeavours.

The impact of globalisation on the Indian economy and politics is profound. Multinational
corporations and business enterprises need to assume obligations they did not recognise
before. They need to recognise that corporate social responsibility demands that their working
and functions are in accordance with domestic and international human rights. They have a
duty to share responsibilities to promote human rights education. They should support the
activities of educational institutions, NGOs, and civil society organisations with a view to
promoting human rights education.

The culture of human rights that we seek to achieve in India necessitates rights education that
examines the policies affecting human rights and to shape the responses of HRCs and civil
society with a view to enforcing accountability in governance.