5 Success Stories of NHRC

1. NHRC opened the state to judicial and moral scrutiny: One example is the consistent watch the Commission has kept on incidences of ‘encounter killings’ and deaths in custody. It has issued guidelines wherein every death in police action has to be reported to the NHRC within 48 hours of the incident.
2. Vocal in its opinion against laws such as the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) and Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) – which had scope for misuse and possible human rights violations.
3. Expanding Reach: Over the years, as awareness about the NHRC’s existence and work increased, so has its reach among the people. According to the Commission’s estimate, from 169 complaints received in 1993-94, the NHRC went on to receive 68,713 complaints in 2002-2003 to one lakh in 2007-2008 and 1,17,808 in 2015-16.
4. Suo motu cognisance of human rights violations, based on media reports or other sources of information and investigates them. For example, the NHRC issued a notice to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs over the planned deportation of about 40,000 Rohingya immigrants, and asked the ministry to submit a detailed report within four weeks.
5. Enlarging its ambit/mandate: The Commission has also gone beyond the physical violation of human rights to protect the economic, social and cultural rights of people Example - being assigned to look into the extreme poverty, starvation in Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput regions of Odisha etc.