By Muslim Mirror Staff
New Delhi: As many as 71 members of various human rights organisations have slammed the Modi government for appointing controversial Ex-judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Arun Mishra as the chief of National Human Rights Commission.
”By appointing Justice Arun Mishra, whose tenure as a former Supreme Court judge was very controversial, the Modi government has demonstrated once again, that the basis for their selection is not guided by the requirements of a Head of the NHRC or even the track record of defending human rights by the person so selected. Instead, what matters is whether the person selected was close to the ruling dispensation,” they said in a statement.
They pointed out the track records of Mishra as a judge has not been okay in terms of upholding human rights.
”Few have forgotten the unprecedented action of 4 of the senior most SC judges consisting of Justice Gogoi, Chelameswar, Madan Lokur and Joseph, conducting a press conference in January, 2019. The immediate trigger for the press conference was the assignment of the Judge Loya case to a Bench headed by Justice Arun Kumar Mishra.”
They also raised concerns over appointment of former Director of Intelligence Bureau, Rajiv Jain as a member of the NHRC, ”when he has no human rights qualifications to speak of”.
The appointment of Justice Arun Mishra is a flagrant violation of the `Paris Principles’ which govern the recognition of the NHRC in international law. Of the six foundational principles, the appointment of Justice Mishra directly violates three: Independence, Pluralism and Accountability.