Rabi Takhellambam
Imphal,Dec.15: Despite setting up of a competent functioning State Human Rights Commission in every state is mandatory under section 21 of Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 to monitor and address various cases of human rights violation, Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has been lying defunct for the last four years due to negligence on the part of the state government.
Several issues of human rights violation are taking place in Manipur, an armed conflict zone state in the country. With the state failing to set up a competent State Human Rights Commission responsible for monitoring and addressing various cases of human rights violation, victims facing several cases of human Rights violation are deprived of justice supposed to be delivered through such effective Rights Commission. As such, lackadaisical attitude on the part of the state Government to set up a functioning State Human Rights Commission is a complete violation of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, sources said.
Following strong pressures from the people in the wake of rampant cases of human rights violations in Manipur including murder, forced disappearance, Custodial death and fake encounter, Manipur Human Rights Commission was constituted on 27th June 1998 with Justice Surendra Nath Bhargava, retired Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court, as the first Chairperson. Subsequently, the members were appointed on 13 October 1998. The members joined their duty on 10th December 1998.
The Commission started functioning at the State Guest House, Imphal. The temporary office was shifted to the first floor of the Family Court building situated at the Court Complex, Lamphelpat, Imphal.
After the tenure of the first Chairperson was over, Hon’ble Justice WA Shishak, was appointed on 23rd September 2003. He started working with three members for a limited period of time as the tenure for the members (first batch) was over by 9th December 2003. He was working alone without any member till mid 2005 when the members were appointed.
A person can lodge a complaint with the State Human Rights Commission regarding violation of Human Rights and to get justice through the commission. However, Manipur Human Rights Commission has stopped functioning since 2010 after retirement of the then Chairperson Chief Justice WA Shishak and members M Gourachand, Ng Nongyai and retired Colonel RK Rajendra. Since then, the state Government has failed to take up any initiative to revive the Commission by appointing competent Chairperson and other necessary members, though the state is obligatory to revive the defunct Human Rights Commission under section 21 of Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.
It seems that the state Government is not in favour of reviving the Rights Commission lying defunct for almost four years. Disappointed at the lackadaisical state attitude, once a civil activist filed a Public Interest Litigation WP/(PIL) No 1 of 2005 to the Guwahati High Court, Imphal Bench on 27th January 2005. As a response, the Hight Court ordered immediate appointment of the commission members. Thus, the second batch of the commission members were appointed in 2005.
The situation of re-activation of the Commission emerged again after all the members and Chairperson completed their term. The office of the commission remains closed most of the time and no petition can be filed at the commission since no competent chairperson and members are appointed till date.
