Against Bonded Labour
community or group of refugees. Soon after its creation, the NHRC in 1994 had taken up the issue of safety of the Chakma community in Arunchal Pradesh and in a letter to the state government had stated that it was “the obligation of that government to accord protection to the person and property of the members of the two communities (Chakma and Hajong refugees – Hindus and Buddhists of the erstwhile East Pakistan) and to ensure that their human rights were not violated”. In 1995 the NHRC also petitioned the Supreme Court (SC) for the protection of the rights of these communities, following which the apex Court in 1996 directed the Arunachal Pradesh government to ensure the same. The NHRC’S intervention had gone a long way in protecting the rights of the Chakmas in the north-east.
“The Commission also visits different states to organise open hearings to take cognisance of the problems of people there,” says former NHRC chairperson Justice KG Balakrishnan. While some of the open hearings are issue-based – the problem of bonded labour, for example – others address every kind of human rights violation. The Commission has also gone beyond the physical violation of human rights to protect the economic, social and cultural rights of people. Laxmidhar Mishra, another former NHRC special rapporteur, remembers being assigned to look into the extreme poverty, starvation and malnutrition in Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput regions of Odisha. Another of his assignments was to study the malnutrition-related deaths of children in 15 tribal districts of Maharashtra and submit recommendations for improvement in their living conditions. Mishra says that most of his recommendations in this case were accepted by the states. But that is not always the case. Children working as bonded labourers, rescued in Delhi in 1994 by the Bandhua Mukti Morcha. Bonded labour is banned under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, but the problem persists. The NHRC has repeatedly drawn attention to the issue of bonded labour, a violation of human rights. It has held awareness building workshops and issued directions to the state governments to provide relief and compensation to rescued workers and take action against the accused.
This becomes a major handicap for the Commission in states under AFSPA or the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act – such as Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur – where allegations of violations are common. “In the Manipur fake encounter case, where 1528 people were extra judicially killed, the NHRC did not say a word for years,” says senior advocate Colin Gonsalves. However, the NHRC may not be in a position to intervene in such cases. In September 2016, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, on behalf of the Centre, opposed the NHRC’S offer to probe over 1500 cases of alleged extra-judicial killings in Manipur and said even the top court cannot “transplant” any powers on the panel. In July, the court had said that the alleged extra-judicial killings by the Army and Manipur police, over a period of 12 years between 2000 and 2012, required a thorprobe. ough But in February this year, the SC, dissatisfied with the investigations of a SIT formed by the CBI to look into some of the cases, directed the NHRC to depute three people to associate with the SIT to carry out investigation in 17 of 42 incidents in which cases have been registered.
“The NHRC has been of the view that the AFSPA should be repealed,” the Commishad sion said in response to Henys comin ments 2012. “However, the SC has held that the Act is constitutional.” Now, the NHRC feels it is for the Centre to decide whether AFSPA should be continued.
A bigger issue is the very nature of formation of the NHRC – by an Act of Parliament and where the chairperson and the members of the Commission are appointed by the President, on the recommendations of a committee that includes the Prime Minister – which has raised doubts in the minds of many about its ability to function independently. “The NHRC is not a government body. It is an autonomous body, set up by the government in tune with its obligations under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993,” says Justice Dattu.