Human rights are standards that recognize and protect the dignity of all human beings. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR) was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It setout, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.
The National Human Rights Commission is the Apex body for the protection of human rights in India. The National Human Rights Commission of India is a statutory public body constituted on the 12th of October of 1993 under the Protection of Human Rights Ordinance of 28th September 1993. It was given a statutory basis by the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993(PHRA).
The State Human Rights Commissionsareconstituted in theindividual States in India. The State Human Rights Commission protects the human rights of the people in the state. It also looks into the acts of violation of human rights in the particular state.Thus, the State Human Rights Commission is charged with the protection of Human Rights or investigating any violations that occur within their respective state.Sometimes, these State Human Rights Commissions seem to dispense justice with respect to the cases of human rights violations in a selective manner.
Let us take the example of the Tamilnadu Human Rights Commission, which took up the Lois Sophia case after the infamous incident in mid-air in 2018.
Lois Sophia is the daughter of Dr. Antony Arokiya Samy, a Tamil Nadu State government doctor belonging to the Christian minority community. Lois Sophia was a research scholar hailing from Tamil Nadu state in India, who was pursuing some research work in Canada in 2018. In 2018, Lois Sophia, the daughter of the Tamil Nadu government doctor, Dr. Antony Arokiya Samy was booked and arrested by the Tuticorin district police for raising demeaning slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Modi ji inside a domestic flight flying from Chennai to Thoothukudi.The then BJP State President of Tamilnadu and the current Governor of Telangana and the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, Smt.Tamilisai Soundararajan was travelling on the same flight with Lois Sophia. In fact, Lois Sophia began shouting the slogan after she sighted Smt.Tamilisai Soundararajan. Lois Sophia was remanded after she was booked by the concernedPolice Inspector.
Now in 2022, based on a petition moved by Lois Sophia’s father, Dr. Antony Arokiya Samy, the Tamilnadu State Human Rights Commission has recommended a compensation amount of Rupees Two Lakhs to be paid to her by the Tamilnadu government.The Tamilnadu State Human Rights Commission noted that Police Personnel had fabricated the First Information report by inserting Section 505(1)(B) of IPC in ink by hand after preparing the FIR and had removed the original FIR from The Records. The Commission noted that the Police did not follow the procedures laid down by the Supreme Court while questioning and remanding ‘the victim’(the one who raised slogans and disturbed the societal tranquillity in mid-air) to judicial custody. The TNHRC has accepted the contention that the woman activist was subjected to torture and harassment by seven police personnel ranging from Sub Inspector to Assistant Superintendent of Police in Tuticorin. Thus, nowon the 2nd of March 2022,TNHRC has recommended Rs. 2 lakhs as compensation to Lois Sophia besides disciplinary proceedings against the cops involved.
One fails to understand why the state Human Rights Commission of Tamilnadu, which has so judiciously followed up on the Lois Sophia case has failed to take suo moto cognisance of the case involving the remand of the 32 ABVP(Akhil BharatiyaVidyarthi Parishad) students, who had been arrested for protesting near the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, Stalin’s residence in February 2022 seeking justice for a fellow student, Lavanya, who committed suicide in January 2022allegedly because of the pressure mounted on her by her residential school, Sacred Hearts Higher Secondary School’s warden, Sagaya Mary to convert to Christianity. The incident happened in Thirukattupalli in Thanjavur district in Tamilnadu in January 2022.Actually, even the licence for running the school had expired at the time of Lavanya’s suicide in January 2022. Many say that licence was in fact, for running an orphanage and not even a school! There are glaring irregularities in the very basis of the school’s functioning.
There are many such instances of forceful conversions and love jihad cases happening in Tamilnadu and in fact, all overIndia.These are all instances of gross human rights violations. The Lavanya case of forcible conversion is now before the CBI. That is also a case of gross human rights violation. Were the Human Rights of the 32 students of ABVP who were in custody for more than a week(can you believe that students remained in custody for more than a week in democratic India’s state of Tamilnadu)not so important for SHRC? Why were young students seeking justice for a fellow student treated like condemned criminals by some of the Jail authorities? Should the TNHRC not register a suo-moto case of human rights violations of the 32 ABVP students by the present Tamilnadu state Government and cops?
One wonders as to why the TNHRC has not deemed it fit to pursue the case of NOT ONEperson’s but THIRTY-TWOStudents’ human rights violations. One is talking about the 32 ABVP students who were arrested for protesting before Stalin’s house. Was it necessary to remand young students for more than a week?!
The Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission should register Suo moto case with respect to cases of Love Jihad and ForcibleReligious Conversions where human rights are grossly violated. Recently, a plus two (12th standard) woman student from Uppathukadu near Thammampatti village,Salem, Tamilnadu consumed pesticide on the 18th of January 2022 as a result of alleged Love Jihad by one, Amir Khan, son of Rahamuthulla, local Jamaat leader in Salem.
Why did the Tamilnadu State Human Rights Commission not register Suo Moto cases of human rights’ violations with respect to Vlogger Maridhas arrest, Social Media ActivistKishor Swamy arrest, BJP functionary Kalyana Rama arrest, arrest of Arun Kumar of Coimbatore for spraying saffron paint on E.V. Ramaswamy statue, who was booked under NSA. What about the human rights of the 32 ABVP students, who protested peacefully near TamilNadu CM STALIN’s residence seeking justice for M. Lavanya, the student victim of alleged forceful conversion racket in Tamilnadu.? M. Lavanya was a student of Sacred Hearts Higher Secondary School in ‘Michaelpatti’ in Thanjavur. In the particular case of the 32 ABVP students, it is unheard of anywhere in the world that students protesting peacefully are kept in custody for more than a week!
Butare only the human rights of the minorities ensured in Tamilnadu? What about the human rights of the majority Hindus in Tamilnadu? There is a need to change the perception of the public in the magnificent institution of human justice. Not only justice must be done but it must also be seen to be done.
The State Human Rights Commission in Tamilnadu should take Suo moto action with respect to the treatment meted out to Maridhas, Kishor Swamy, Kalyana Raman, Arun Kumar, the 32 students of ABVP, cases of Love Jihad and Forcible Religious Conversions. Justice in the form of monetary compensation and disciplinary proceedings against the erring officials in the aforementioned cases may kindly be provided by the Honourable Tamilnadu State Human Rights Commission to restore the confidence of the public in the exalted institution for the dispensation of human rights justice in our state of Tamilnadu.
by Dr.S. PADMAPRIYA