By Dr. M. Mohibul Haque
The presence of minorities in all countries and their vulnerabilities owing to numerical inferiority and non-dominant position is an empirically established fact. Therefore, it has been universally accepted that minorities need effective constitutional and legal safeguards to protect themselves from the most obvious onslaught by the majority on their legitimate claims and aspirations. These legal safeguards must be enforced through effective institutional mechanism.
The establishment of the Central Minorities Commission in 1978 by Government of India and according it the statutory status through the National Commission for Minorities Act 1992 is an important step toward providing the much needed institutional mechanism. The powers and functions assigned to the NCM under Chapter III of the NCM Act 1992, Section (1) are as follows:
- evaluate the progress of the development of minorities under the Union or States;
- monitor the working of the safeguards provided in the Constitution and in laws enacted by Parliament and the State Legislature;
- make recommendations for the effective implementation of safeguards for the protection of the interests of minorities by the Central Government or the State Governments;
- look into specific complaints regarding deprivation of rights and safeguards of the minorities and take up such matters with the appropriate authorities;
- cause studies to be undertaken into problems arising out of any discrimination against minorities and recommend measures for their removal;
- conduct studies, research and analysis on the issues relating to socio-economic and educational development of minorities;
- suggest appropriate measures in respect of any minority to be undertaken by the Central Government or the State Government;
- make periodical or special reports to the Central Government on any matter pertaining to minorities and on particular difficulties confronted by them; and
- any other matter which may be referred to it by the Central Government.
The functions assigned to the Commission as mentioned above are comprehensive and important. The NCM over the years should have become a data bank on minorities. It should have conducted special studies on the issues relating to minorities. A researcher approaching the Commission will be disappointed if he/she wants to know for example: total number of people belonging to minorities in the jails, total number of members of minorities killed in encounters and the pattern involved in those encounters, follow up of the prime Minister’s Fifteen Points Programme etc. The Commission should have conducted authentic studies on illegal detention and torture of minorities, growing menace of lynching, drug addiction in Punjab and its impact on Sikh minority, misuse of anti-terror laws against minorities, issues of discrimination against religious minorities, dwindling number of minorities in public employment, impact of globalization on minorities, pathetic condition of Bunkars, carpet weavers, causes of growing atmosphere of hate against Muslims and Christians and its impact etc. It should have taken up the issue of compensatory justice in cases of communal violence, fake encounters, illegal detention and torture etc. While visiting the Commission, with few notable exceptions like the Research Officer, one hardly finds anybody occupying the different chairs in the office of the Commission knowing anything about the mandate, powers, functions, special studies conducted or ongoing studies, projects under the aegis of the Commission. The status of its latest annual report is mostly kept secret for unknown reasons.
If we try to evaluate the role of the NCM in last few years when religious minorities are passing through difficult times we find that NCM is conspicuous by its absence. Lynching, fake encounters, blatant discrimination, denial of constitutional rights and growing atmosphere of hate are posing threats to minorities on daily basis. The NCM must have been on the forefront in protecting the rights of minorities and restoring their faith in the constitution and state. But unfortunately, the Commission has disappointed the religious minorities by maintaining a disturbing silence. The Commission’s conspicuous absence was noticed by all when eight alleged SIMI activists escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail as claimed by the police and were killed in encounter in the broad day light in October 2016. There were already reports of the Muslim inmates of the Jail approaching the Commission against the inhuman treatment and cruelty exercised by the jail authority against them. The family of the alleged SIMI activists had brought it in the media that there is an imminent danger of life of those prisoners. The families of the prisoners also shared the horrific stories of torture inflicted upon the prisoners. According to RihaiManchthe torture of terror suspects in Bhopal Jail has worsened after the encounter of the eight SIMI suspects. The NHRC also corroborated the report of torture of the suspected SIMI activists in the jail. According to the report published in The Indian Express the NHRC found that these suspects were not only physically and psychologically tortured but were also denied food and sleep, were kept in solitary confinement and were made to chant Jai Shri Ram, their copies of Quran were allegedly threw away. The NHRC panel has recommended action against jail authorities. However, the NCM does not have anything to share on this important issues relating to minorities. Nobody knows whether the Commission bothered to visit the Bhopal Central Jail and meet the prisoners facing inhuman treatment and degrading punishment. While NGO like Rihai Manch and the governmental agency like NHRC are doing their work despite all odds, the NCM which has been established to deal with the complaints of violation of rights of religious minorities, has nothing to do with these serious violations of rights of minorities. The Commission has not only miserably failed but is guilty of not fulfilling its assigned duties.
There is no doubt that the Commission is not a constitutional body and it lacks powers commensurate to its responsibilities. Nevertheless, it can mark its presence by honestly discharging its functions within the powers given to it by the Act of 1992. For instance, the Commission under Section (4) of Chapter III of the NCM Act 1992 has been entrusted withall the powers of a civil court trying a suit and, in particular, in respect of the following matters, namely-
- a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person from any part of India and examining him on oath;
- b) requiring the discovery and production of any document;
- c) receiving evidence on affidavits;
- d) requisitioning any public record or copy thereof from any court or office;
- e) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses and documents; and
- f) any other matter which may be prescribed.
However, the Commission seemed to forget its own powers and assigned responsibilities. In the cases of alleged fake encounters of the Muslims in U.P. the Commission never bothered to exercise its powers of summoning the guilty officers and examine them on oath. In the case of the alleged police brutality on the students of Aligarh Muslim University on 2 May 2018 when they were leading a peaceful protest march against the alleged attack on University by the rightist groups, the Commission was nowhere in seen. It must be mentioned that the rightist forces barged into the campus of the Muslim University and shouted objectionable slogans, physically assaulted the security guards of the university just few meters away from the guesthouse whereat Hamid Ansari, the former Vice President of India who also happens to be the former Chairman of the NCM was staying in.
It can be asked from the Commission did it act according to the mandate given to it by the Parliament of India? It cannot hide itself behind the shield of the lack of power given to it. Prof. Tahir Mahmood, the most notable chairman of the NCM has already demonstrated how the Commission can work in an effective manner despite all its limitations.Similarly, the Delhi Minorities Commission under the stewardship of Zafarul Islam Khan is making people feel that there is a Commission which is not a useless body but a watchdog capable of barking and biting both.
The NCM’s website is poorly managed, the online complaint system is not available on its website, its archive is under construction for last many years, online access to latest annual reports are not available, its Public Relation Office and its toll free number seldom responds to the calls. There is no complaint mechanism or format available for complaining.
The National Commission for Minorities should awake from the deep slumber. It should intervene where it is most sought after. The Ministry of Minority Affairs should pursue the pending bill of granting constitutional status to the Commission. Even, if the constitutional status under the present ruling dispensation is not feasible, it can at least persuade the government to confer the power of inquiry and investigation to the Commission as recommended by the NCM in its various annual reports. The NCM has done many commendable things in the past: it was on the recommendations of the Commission that many notable decisions relating to uplift of the minorities were made by the government. However, it is rightly said that office depends upon the incumbents. The present Commission’s performance is disappointing. It must show guts to honestly discharge its statutory duties without accepting any political pressure.
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Author is an Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, AMU Aligarh