New Delhi, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Monday said the NHRC has grown into a "trusted address" for the aggrieved and the true measure of a human rights institution is not only the number of cases it decides, but whether it can be heard by those who are least able to make themselves heard.
The CJI was speaking at the 33rd Foundation Day function of the National Human Rights Commission at Vigyan Bhawan here.
"Thirty-three years ago, Parliament created this Commission to stand guard over human dignity. In the years since, it has grown from a new idea into a trusted address for the aggrieved," he said.
"If the Constitution is the promise, the Commission is one of its keepers. It goes where the court cannot easily go; it listens to those who cannot easily speak, and it can act on its own without waiting to be asked," the CJI said.
Referring to the NHRC's interventions in cases involving custodial torture or deaths, bonded labour, industrial exposure to silicosis and protection of rights of marginalised communities, the CJI said they demonstrate that human rights protection must go beyond identifying a violation.
"It must also seek answerability, meaningful relief for those affected and changes that prevent the violation from recurring," he said.
Justice Kant said the influence of a human rights institution does not come from the coercive force of its orders, but from the credibility it earns over time.
"Its moral authority is like a bank balance. It is built slowly, deposit by deposit, and it can be spent very quickly. Every careful inquiry, every timely intervention and every honest report adds to that balance," he said.
The CJI said the Constitution asks us a very practical question how does the last person in the line live?
He said a right that works for the powerful, but fails the powerless is not a right in the true sense.
"It is a privilege with better branding. The true measure of a human rights institution is therefore not only the number of cases it decides, but whether it can be heard by those who are least able to make themselves heard," he said.
NHRC Chairman V Ramasubramanian, who is a former Supreme Court judge, and others also addressed the gathering.
The CJI said that in its 33 years, the NHRC has registered over 24 lakh cases and disposed of more than 23 lakh, with the disposal rate exceeding 98 per cent.
He said these figures represent not merely institutional output, but the many instances in which a grave violation has been brought into the public eye.
He said the meaning of human rights has itself widened considerably over the years, and Article 21 of the Constitution is perhaps the clearest example of this constitutional journey.
"What began as a protection against the deprivation of life and personal liberty has evolved into a guarantee of a life lived with dignity. The right to health, food, shelter, livelihood and a clean environment are now understood as essential to that dignity," he said.
He said the Supreme Court's environmental jurisprudence has given concrete expression to this understanding by recognising that the right to life includes the right to enjoy pollution-free water and air.
"The constitutional question, therefore, is no longer only what the State must refrain from doing, but also what it must ensure so that people can live with dignity. Few issues bring this responsibility into sharper focus than access to safe and reliable water," he said.
The CJI commended the NHRC for pairing this celebration with a national conference on 'Water as the Elixir of Life: Advancing Human Dignity through the Right to Water'.
He said water is not only the elixir of life, but from a human rights perspective, its centrality goes much farther.
The CJI said a community without reliable access to water cannot fully enjoy the dignity that the Constitution promises.
He said India has made astronomical efforts to expand access to drinking water, including through provision of household tap connections in rural areas.
"That progress deserves commendation. But the next question must be a more demanding one: is the water safe, reliable and available when the family needs it? A mere tap is not the same as access to water," he said.
"A pipe that runs dry cannot fulfil the promise that the pipe represents. And water contaminated with arsenic, fluoride or other harmful substances is not a service; it is a threat to life and health," he said.
The CJI said these challenges also explain why water cannot be treated as the responsibility of any one institution.
He said the government must build and maintain the systems through which water reaches people.
"Courts must intervene when constitutional rights are violated. Human rights commissions must investigate complaints, identify systemic failures and ensure that concerns which may otherwise remain invisible receive institutional attention," he said.
The CJI said every aquifer depleted, every river polluted and every source of drinking water compromised transfers a burden to a generation that had no part in creating it.
"The right to water must therefore be understood not only as a right of the present, but as a responsibility towards the future," he said.
He also commended the NHRC for the launch of the NHRC India mobile application and the move towards digitisation of its records.
"Looking ahead, I see the NHRC continuing to illuminate the path to justice, expanding its reach and deepening its impact," he said.
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