Human rights commission seeks report on use of ‘excessive force’ in Kolkata

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought an action-taken report in two weeks from the Kolkata Police commissioner following a complaint from one O.P. Vyas representing the Bharatiya Human Rights Initiative (BHIM). The complaint accuses Kolkata Police of using "excessive and brutal force" on peaceful protesters marching to the state secretariat Nabanna to demand justice in the alleged rape and murder of a junior doctor at the R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital on 9 August.

While the peaceful protest turned violent and scores of policemen in uniform sustained injuries, one of them threatened with loss of eyesight, the complaint states, “Over 200 students were arrested and subjected to brutal physical assaults, many sustaining serious injuries. This action violated their right to peaceful assembly and reflected a grave disregard for human rights. The complainant requests that steps be taken to ensure the protection of the students' rights and to provide compensation to the victims."

The allegations, if true, the NHRC notice states, raise a serious issue of violation of the right to peaceful assembly. It refers to observations made by the Supreme Court and goes on to state, "police indulges in excesses and crosses the limit by using excessive force, thereby becoming barbaric or by not halting even after controlling the situation and continuing its tirade".

Striking junior doctors, students' bodies and other political parties had distanced themselves from the protest march to Nabanna, which received thinly-veiled assistance from the BJP and its supporters. The CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) took over the investigation of the case on 14 August and has seemingly made little headway after the arrest of a prime accused by Kolkata Police on 10 August. The Central agency is expected to submit an action-taken report to the Supreme Court next week.

The NHRC notice has come as a surprise because the NHRC in recent years has remained silent on human rights violations in Manipur and Kashmir. Unlike in the past, it has not addressed concerns about restrictions on civil liberties or draconian laws against principles of natural justice.

The independence of the NHRC and its ‘fairness’ have been under international scrutiny. The UN-recognised Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), which had in 2006 and 2011 granted NHRC an ‘A rating’, held by NHRC since 1999, deferred its accreditation for the second year in a row in 2024.

Re-accreditation was delayed once before in 2016, when the lack of diversity in the NHRC and political appointees in the commission were flagged. India managed to regain its accreditation in November 2017, solely by proposing and committing to comply with the ‘Paris Principles’.

The NHRC in recent years has faced allegations of political bias, lack of diversity in its composition, its opaque appointment process, failure to engage with civil society, and involving police personnel in investigations related to police torture and excesses.

With agency inputs