State Human Rights Commissions in at least 16 of India’s 28 states do not meet requirements mandated under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.
Three state panels do not have a chairperson, seven of them do not have permanent chairpersons, and the Telangana and Mizoram commissions do not have a single office-bearer.
According to the Protection of Human Rights Act, state commissions should have a chairperson, who has been a chief justice or a judge of a high court, and two other members: one who has been a judge of a high court or district judge in the state with at least seven years of experience, and one member from among people who have knowledge or practical experience of human rights matters. But 12 states do not have one or both members.
The National Human Rights Commission, too, has not had a permanent chairperson since June. Vijaya Bharati Sayani stepped in as the acting chairperson in June after the term of Arun Mishra came to an end. Sayani is the only full-time member of the commission now, as the members’ positions lie vacant.
In March this year, global human rights bodies wrote to the United Nations Human Rights Council, seeking to draw urgent attention to the human rights situation in the country.
Meanwhile, for the second time in several decades, the UN-recognised Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) – which is an international group of 16 human rights agencies – this year deferred its accreditation to NHRC. It cited political interference in appointments, involvement of the police in probes into human rights violations, and poor cooperation with civil society.
On World Human Rights Day, Newslaundry assessed the condition of state human rights commissions across India and found that several states either rely on temporary appointments or operate without the required members.
Headless bodies
Last month, 12 Kuku-Zo tribals were killed in Manipur’s Jiribam in an alleged encounter with the Central Reserve Police Force. A tribal woman was allegedly raped and burned to death. A three-year-old boy was reportedly kidnapped and killed.
These incidents took place in Manipur, where the human rights commission has been headless since August, following the retirement of Justice Utpalendu Bikas Saha as chairperson.
Besides Manipur, Telangana and Mizoram are also running human rights commissions without a head.
The Telangana state human rights commission has been entirely defunct — without a chairperson or members — since December 2022, when the tenure of Justice G Chandraiah ended. Over 10,000 cases remain pending at the commission, as per its website, with not a single order passed in nearly two years.
In the last month itself, the young state has faced several human rights violations, including the suicide of a woman in Hyderabad, allegedly after being sexually harassed. There are also allegations against the police of committing atrocities against tribals during forced land displacement in Lagacharla village, as well as an alleged encounter in which seven Maoists were killed in Chalpaka forests.
Mizoram, meanwhile, has the newest commission in the country and has not yet appointed any chairperson or members. The commission was set up two months ago after being warned by the Gauhati High Court of sanctions for non-compliance.
Haryana got a chairperson in November after a hiatus of 19 months, while its members were appointed after 14 months of vacancy.
Vacancies
Punjab, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh Telangana does not have even one member currently in the commission, judicial or non-judicial.
In Punjab, Justice Sant Prakash oversees the commission, while Jharkhand relies on acting chairperson Santosh Kumar Satpathy. Similarly, Justice PS Rana leads the Himachal Pradesh commission, but with no members to support him. Arunachal Pradesh faces the same issue under Bamang Tago.
States like Gujarat, Tripura, Karnataka, Nagaland, Manipur, and Sikkim fare slightly better but still have at least one vacant member position.
‘Opaque’ system, ‘extension of ideology’
In the human rights commissions in Chattisgarh, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, and Sikkim, there are no permanent chairpersons.
In Karnataka, Dr T Sham Bhatt is serving as acting chairperson, while Goa has Desmond D’Costa in that position for over a year.
Chhattisgarh, which has seen several human rights violations in the last year, including gang rape of a minor by the school’s headmaster and teachers and the arrest of human rights defenders on what global organisations call “fabricated charges,” has Giridhar Nayak, a former IPS officer, as the acting chairman since 2020.
Lenin Raghuvanshi, human rights activist and founding member of PVCHR, told Newslaundry that not having permanent chairpersons was a reflection of the state’s priorities. “Human rights are not on the agenda of many state governments, so they don’t prioritise appointing chairpersons,” he said. “Labour laws and rights of the poor and marginalised get compromised because of this. The system in state commissions is also very opaque, and it is almost impossible to get to know about the cases pending before the court.”
“Human rights violations as well as awareness of rights are increasing, so people are filing more cases. But without a full strength in commission, the burden increases on the remaining members,” he said. “Human rights commissions work as courts of the poor and can provide immediate relief to those in need of justice.”
Kavita Srivastava, national president of PUCL, told Newslaundry that the human rights commissions were becoming “an extension of an ideology.”
“Human rights commissions have declined in their performance and become just stooges of the state,” she said. “Their role is to hold accountability and prevent immunity. But they are increasingly becoming just a department. The present dispensation is apathetic towards human rights. So when governments are not bothered, why should commissions be?”
Srivastava pointed to the amendment in 2019, which changed the criteria of NHRC chairperson from being only occupied by a retired Chief Justice of India to allow any Supreme Court judge to head the commission. Justice Arun Mishra soon occupied the post in June 2021, becoming the first non-CJI chairperson.
“In a way this position has become something for retired people, whether judges or from IPS or CBI, to have something to do. It is a token, super annulated position. Earlier they used to have civil society groups as advisors, but now that barely happens. The body has become an extension of an ideology. How do ordinary people's human rights get restored?”
Newslaundry earlier reported in-depth about the rise and ruin of India’s human rights regime. Read about it here.
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