NHRC Has Been Reduced To A Toothless Tiger: Supreme Court [Read Judgment]

The Supreme Court on Friday expressed regret over the reduction of the National Human Rights Commission to a “toothless tiger”.

“Considering that such a high powered body has brought out its difficulties through affidavits and written submissions filed in this Court, we have no doubt that it has been most unfortunately reduced to a toothless tiger. We are of the clear opinion that any request made by the NHRC in this regard must be expeditiously and favourably respected and considered by the Union of India otherwise it would become impossible for the NHRC to function effectively and would also invite avoidable criticism regarding respect for human rights in our country,” the Bench, comprising Justice M.B. Lokur and Justice U.U. Lalit observed.

The observations were issued while directing the Central Bureau of Investigation to constitute a Special Investigation Team to probe the alleged extra-judicial killings in the State of Manipur.

The Court was considering the submissions put forth my Senior Advocate Mr. Gopal Subramanium on behalf of NHRC, which had expressed helplessness over the lack of concern for its communications and guidelines, and also over the “absence of attention that they deserve”.

The Commission had contended that the compliance with its directives by the States have only been half-hearted, with several deficiencies such as unexplained delays, sub-quality reports and illegible documents. It also pointed out the shortage of adequate number of trained staff to handle the growing number of complaints. All this, it submitted, hampers its efficient functioning, and causes delays in redressal of grievances.

The Court noted that the difficulties faced by the NHRC due to lack of personnel is “something to worry about from a human rights perspective”.

It, further, lamented the non-compliance with the directions for compensation issued by the commission, and observed, “We expect all State Governments to abide by the directions issued by the NHRC in regard to compensation and other issues as may arise from time to time. If the people of our country are deprived of human rights or cannot have them enforced, democracy itself would be in peril.”