India’s National Human Rights Commission is Defeating Its Own Purpose

Home minister Amit Shah and a CRPF constable expressed ideas sharply antithetical to human rights principles from the NHRC’s platform, yet were commended by the commission for doing so.

Within a matter of days, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India found itself on the wrong foot twice. In the first instance, a ‘hate speech’ video of a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) constable delivered last month during a debate competition organised by the NHRC went viral, causing consternation. In the second, inviting Amit Shah, once an accused in fake encounter cases, as chief guest for the commission’s foundation day celebrations, has raised eyebrows.
On September 27, Khushboo Chauhan, a constable of the CRPF, delivered an emotive speech which was not just antithetical to the very idea of human rights but also propagated violence against non-combatant civilians like Kanhaiya Kumar.
Moreover, the speech contained claims that were far removed from reality and truth. For example, while referring to the 2016 JNU controversy, she said that “No human rights activist has ever stood with us, but when in JNU, anti-national slogans like ‘Bharat tere tukde tukde honge (India will be divided into many pieces)’ or ‘Afzal, hum sharminda hain, tere qatil zinda hai (Afzal, we are ashamed that your killers are still alive)’ were raised, everyone lined up in support for him.”

https://thewire.in/rights/nhrc-amit-shah-khushboo-chauhan-human-rights