National Human Rights Commission looks to continue good work in the coming year

From highlighting custodial deaths to putting a spotlight on poor fire safety compliance in hospitals, the NHRC championed the upholding of human rights in 2016 and is looking ahead with a hope to earn more teeth to enforce its orders on violations.

The National Human Rights Commission, since its inception, has impacted human lives and striven for justice, liberty and equality for all, with some landmark cases, punctuating its eventful journey of over 20 years.

Chairperson of the rights panel Justice H L Dattu has pitched for vesting NHRC with “more power”, and as it clocks another year, the Commission would be looking forward to move in that direction.

“Everyone wants to have more power. We (NHRC) also want to have more power,” he had said on its Foundation Day celebrations in October.

Dattu had termed NHRC a “toothless tiger” that needed some teeth to enforce its orders on remedial measures in cases relating to any violations.

“In many cases, due to our active intervention, we have addressed human rights issues... And, with more power, it (NHRC) should roar like a tiger,” he had told PTI.

Since its inception in 1993, the NHRC has come a long way by addressing several issues of human rights violations as well as giving inputs on key legislations impacting human rights, he said.

“Whenever an issue of human rights violation comes to the notice of the NHRC, it has to take cognisance without bothering for the permutations and combinations of electoral politics or caste and creed equations,” Dattu said.

And, indeed the rights panel has taken up a whole gamut of issues, and highlighted cases of human rights violations with timely intervention.

According to NHRC, Uttar Pradesh registered highest number of cases of custodial deaths in the country between October 2015 and September 2016, with as many as 401 deaths taking place in judicial custody and 27 in policy custody.

Between October 2015 and September 2016, the NHRC has registered 1,05,664 cases on the basis of complaints, intimation from police and prison authorities etc, and on suo motu basis.