New Delhi: The matter of human rights is facing a “deep crisis” in the country as more than five crore cases are pending in the Supreme Court, high courts and lower courts, former apex court judge B N Srikrishna said here on Sunday.
Justice Srikrishna said this while speaking at a national convention on democratic rights and secularism organised by the Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights and Secularism (CPDRS), according to a press note issued by the organisation.
Expressing “grave concern” over the violation of human rights and principles of secularism in the country, Justice Srikrishna said, “Delay in justice is denial of justice.”
The right to dissent and raise a voice of protest is the soul of democracy, he said.
Justice Srikrishna pointed out that in a democracy, all citizens should be treated equally, the rule of law should prevail and secularism should mean the ability to tolerate other religious beliefs too.
“But all these cardinal values are under siege in India now,” he said.
The former judge said judicial independence and freedom of expression are facing a serious threat in the country for the last 10 years.
“The civil society has to take up the cudgels to fight all these onslaughts on hard-owned rights of people,” he said.
Highlighting the issues of custodial deaths, fake encounters and torture in prisons, former Supreme Court judge A K Patnaik said the institutions responsible for the protection of democratic rights in the country are violating them the most.
“The institutions responsible for the protection of democratic rights are violating them the most. There has been a steep rise in custodial deaths, fake encounters and jail torture,” he said.
“Instead of an equitable society, wealth is concentrating in the hands of a few and the way the society is getting divided, I felt it is now or never for me to come out,” Justice Patnaik added.
Also speaking at the convention, advocate Prashant Bhushan said India is witnessing a “rampant form of bulldozing fundamental rights”.
“Constitutional institutions are destroyed and draconian laws clamped,” he said.
Bhushan said the Election Commission and Comptroller and Auditor General are the living examples of becoming appendages to the ruling regime.
“They have stopped auditing the funding of the BJP by misusing powers but they audit the opposition parties’ accounts. Those who protest against the government are imprisoned and languishing in jail without a trial for years together. People must shed their fears and come out against draconian rules,” he said.
The convention noted that tribals, Dalits, women, children and other downtrodden people are subject to the worst kind of exploitation and human rights violations.
In the press note, the CPDRS claimed that India was placed 109th out of 165 countries in the UN Human Freedom Index 2023, with its overall score dropping by 9 per cent between 2015 and 2023.
“The statistics paint a grim picture: in 2021 alone, 31,677 cases of rape were registered, and in 2022, a staggering 4.45 lakh crimes were reported against women. Custodial violence remains rampant, with the NHRC recording 147 deaths in police custody, 1,882 deaths in judicial custody and 119 extrajudicial killings in just the first nine months of 2022. Shockingly, 77 per cent of India’s 5.5 lakh of prison inmates continue to languish in jails despite being granted bail,” it claimed.
The convention noted that repressive laws, such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), National Security Act (NSA) and Public Security Act (PSA), along with the misuse of probe agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED), have instilled a sense of fear among people.
“In Manipur, 175 people were killed and over 60,000 displaced,” it said.
The convention passed a main resolution and another resolution on Palestine, while resolving to encompass the intellectuals and common people of the country to build a mighty human-rights movement.
The CPDRS is a citizen’s forum founded by late judge V R Krishna Iyer, late journalist Kuldeep Nayar and others to ensure upholding of not only democratic rights but also secularism, the press note said.
