UPSC Mains 2021 GS Paper 2 Q12: model answer

Since 1993 the NHRC has made the reporting of every custodial death within 24 hours routine and helped free thousands of bonded labourers. Yet its own former chair once called it a 'toothless tiger'.

Structural limitations

• Recommendatory orders (Section 18); governments can ignore them.
• Armed forces are outside direct inquiry; it can only seek a report (Section 19).
• One-year limit on complaints (Section 36(2)).
• Appointments: chairs and members are chosen by a committee dominated by the ruling side; most are retired judges or officials.
• Investigators on deputation from the police, the very body most complained against.
• SHRCs depend on State governments for funds and staff; several sit vacant.

Practical limitations

• Heavy caseload of about a lakh complaints a year, with too few staff to examine them; most are dismissed in limine or sent to the State.
• Delayed compliance; compensation paid years later.
• Weak follow-up on encounters and deaths in custody in conflict areas.
• International credibility dented: the global alliance of national institutions (GANHRI) deferred its 'A' status review in 2023, citing independence and diversity concerns.

Remedies

• Make recommendations binding unless the government records reasons, reviewable in court.
• A permanent independent investigation cadre.
• Jurisdiction over the armed forces in cases outside operations.
• Wider selection: civil society, women and minorities represented; open process.
• Remove the one-year bar for serious violations.
• Report every non-compliance to Parliament and State legislatures.
• Fill SHRC vacancies within a fixed period, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly directed.

The commissions have proved their value as watchdogs of the weak. To bite the mighty, they need teeth that the government itself cannot pull out.