NHRC blames Centre, states for stifling apex human rights body

The Union Government and the states have reduced the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to a toothless tiger, observed the Supreme Court on Friday while directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to inquire into the fake encounter cases in Manipur against security personnel.

The NHRC informed the court that its guidelines mostly ‘remain on paper and are not enforced by any state’. Not all the states have constituted State Human Rights Commission in accordance with the Act of 1993. And not all the recommendations for compensation made by the NHRC have been honoured by the states.

The Supreme Court noted the failure of the NHRC to publish its annual report regularly. The last Annual Report of the NHRC, it notes, pertains to the year 2012-13.

Pleading helplessness, NHRC told the court that although its workload has increased by 1,455 per cent , its sanctioned staff strength of 59 in 1995 has been reduced to 49 in 2015 by the Union Government.

During this period, the number of custodial death cases registered with NHRC went up from 444 in 1995 to 5,496 in 2015. The total number of cases and complaints filed with NHRC also registered a sharp increase from seven thousand and odd cases in 1995 to 1.14 lakh cases in 2015.Indeed on certain days NHRC receives as many as 450 complaints, the court was informed.

NHRC also informed that beginning with 1993 it has issued a series of directives, advisories and guidelines to the states for dealing with fake encounters, custodial death, complaints against police and cases of rape—most of which are being ignored by the states and law enforcing agencies.

In 2003 NHRC had made magisterial inquiries mandatory in case of custodial deaths. The same year it told states that in case of specific complaints against police, an FIR had to be lodged. In 2010 the Commission revised its guidelines and said that the magisterial inquiries must be completed within three months.

In 1997, it had asked states to adopt the Model Autopsy system formulated by NHRC after consultation with international experts while in 1995 it had made video filming of autopsies mandatory.

But the NHRC lamented the lack of concern on the part of the Governments at the Centre and the States and the ‘absence of attention’ to the guidelines it has been issuing from time to time.

Ironically, the NHRC has always been headed by a retired Chief Justice of India and has a retired Supreme Court judge and a retired High Court judge as its members.