Those interested in working for the betterment of society must fight the system, said A.K. Parashar, former Joint Registrar of Human Rights Defenders Focal Point of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
He was delivering V.R. Lakshmi Narayanan Memorial Lecture on ‘The role and rights of human rights defenders’ at SOCO Trust here on Monday. Mr. Parashar, who spent several years at the NHRC in various capacities, called for the State to protect human rights defenders at any cost. Mr. Parashar also said that the NHRC went through several transformations during his time there.
“In the initial stages, the NHRC came in for criticism for not including a woman member to oversee the proceedings. There was a threat of India’s invitation to the United Nations being withdrawn because we did not accommodate women then,” he said.
Though there had been women members since then, only in 2019 a provision to include a woman representative in the Commission was officially made.
The world of human rights defenders today was under threat as they were being attacked and faced threat while doing their work. “We have observed cases where people have been killed. The effective functioning of the NHRC can take place only if the State Human Rights Commission works in tandem,” he said.
He stressed that the State must provide compensation to victims on time and ensure speedy, transparent justice.
A. Mahboob Batcha, Managing Trustee, SOCO Trust, and S. Selva Gomathi, Managing Trustee, Justice Shivaraj V. Patil Foundation, organised the event.
