By not “sticking to its core competency” the security forces in the country have altogether ignored the very tenet of democracy. Under the garb of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) security forces have been going overboard for more than half a century now. We would like to blame the authorities—all these sorry affairs are attributed to their failure to realize things and see reasons around an idea of justice.
For those states where the operation of the State Human Rights Commission is effective life is easier—atleast the citizens have a platform for consolation.Regarding Nagaland, with the fast rising cases of human rights violation the setting up of such human rights panel will help ease the hardship faced by the people. Under the protection of the Human Rights Act, 1993, states in India need to set up human rights commissions to monitor the cases. However, it is a sad story that even 22 years after such Act was passed the state of Nagaland is yet to see one. The Supreme Court has been reminding that “it is the statutory duty of the state governments to set up state human rights commissions as their absence makes access to justice by the victims of the human rights violation an illusion”. The Apex Court has also been directing Nagaland and other states including Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura and even Delhi to have human rights commissions.
Regarding Manipur, the panel was set up in the year 1998 but it could only survive for 12 years—it became defunct in 2010 with the retirement of Justice (Rtd) WA Shishak as its chairman. In this 12 years period the Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) had rendered loads of useful services. It had addressed issues ranging from cases of security force atrocity to healthcare and roads, pushing the government to an uncomfortable position. This can be the reason why the state government of Manipur does not want to revive the panel. One point to be noted here is that in the 1990s the Manipur government was not willing to set up the MHRC but owing to the enormous pressure from the civil society organizations the state saw the panel.
Here in Nagaland, for the absence of public pressure the state government is delaying to start spade works in setting up Nagaland Human Rights Commission (NHRC). By not setting up the human rights panel the state government of Nagaland is actually failing its duty. As per the Supreme Court judgment, the “power of the state governments under Section 21 to set up state human rights commission in their respective areas/territories is not a power simpliciter but a power coupled with the duty to exercise such power.”
Emphasizing the need to have such panels in Northeastern states a bench of Justice T.S.Thakur and Justice R. Banumathi in their judgment said, “The fact that most if not all the states are affected by ethnic and other violence and extremist activities calling for curbs affecting the people living in those areas resulting, at times, in the violation of their rights cannot be disputed.”
“Such occurrence of violence and the state of affairs prevailing in most of the states cannot support the contention that no such commissions are required in those states as there are no human rights violations of any kind whatsoever,” the judgment added.
