Justice Kaul moots setting up of Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate human rights violations in J&K since 1980s

The judge says the panel should probe and report on violation of human rights perpetrated by both state and non-state actors in Jammu and Kashmir

Supreme Court Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul speaks during the judgement on a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories on December 12, 2023. | Photo Credit: ANI

Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, one of the five judges on the Bench which upheld the abrogation of Article 370, on Monday recommended the setting up of an “impartial Truth and Reconciliation Commission” to investigate and report on the violation of human rights perpetrated by both state and non-state actors in Jammu and Kashmir since the 1980s and recommend measures for reconciliation.

Justice Kaul suggested the setting up of the commission expediently, “before memory escapes”.

“The exercise should be time-bound. There is already an entire generation of youth that has grown up with feelings of distrust and it is to them that we owe the greatest duty of reparation,” the judge observed.

He said the government should, considering the significance of the matter and the sensitivities involved, must devise the manner in which the commission should be set up and the “best way forward” for it.

‘Humanised process’

Justice Kaul, however, added a word of caution that the commission, once constituted, should not turn into a criminal court and must follow a “humanised and personalised process enabling people to share what they have been through uninhibitedly”.

“It should be based on dialogue, allowing for different viewpoints and inputs from all sides,” he noted.

The judge prefaced his recommendation for a commission by narrating about the several years of conflict in the Valley, originating with its invasion in 1947, followed by insurgency and the migration of one part of the population from the erstwhile State in 1989-90.

“It is my sincere hope that much will be achieved when Kashmiris open their hearts to embracing the past and facilitate the people who were compelled to migrate to come back with dignity,” Justice Kaul urged.