Introduction
The dictionary meaning of human right is “a right which is believed to belong to every person”. By virtue of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, the National Human Rights Commission has been set up in India, with its headquarters in New Delhi. Broadly six fundamental rights have been provided in Part III of the Indian Constitution which seek to encompass these human rights.
In general parlance, we as citizens always feel that a lot is being done to safeguard the rights we have by the judiciary, the social activists, the civil society and even the government. This is also true to some extent.
As per the Human Rights Report 2013, in the year 2012, an enquiry was set up to commute the death sentence of 14 convicts who were awarded the same erroneously. The government also took concrete steps to address the pain and suffering of people with incurable diseases. However, impunity remained a grave concern and the government refrained from amending the Armed Forces Special Protection Act, which gave great powers to the Army . The medical treatment of rape victims remained lacking and derogatory tests like the ‘two-finger test’ remained in practice despite protests. Also, it was ruled that the ‘rarest of rare’ principle used to award capital punishment has been arbitrarily applied by courts.
As per the Human Rights Report 2014, on one hand the year 2013 witnessed strengthening of laws related to women and children, prosecution of Army personnel for