Special laws like UAPA were enacted to protect human rights, not take them away: NHRC chief
New Delhi, Nov 23: NHRC chairperson justice (retd) Arun Kumar Mishra on Wednesday said that some special laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act were enacted to protect human rights and not to take them away.
He was addressing a gathering at the 27th NHRC Annual Debate Competition for the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) organised in collaboration with the CISF here.
Some special laws like the UAPA were enacted to protect human rights and not to take them away, he was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the NHRC.
The concept of using proportionate force in dealing with an adversary has been embedded in the Indian idea of "Manav Dharma". The promotion and protection of human rights is a valued part of Indian culture, philosophy, and practice having the genesis in ancient Indian scriptures right since the 'Rig Veda', he said.
This was reflected in the Ramayana period when Lord Ram advised Laxman to use proportionate force and not a weapon of mass destruction during the war, and even in the Mahabharata period, when the warriors fought on principles and after the sunset visited the opposite camps to care of the wounded, the NHRC chief said.
Ancient Indian values guide people to protect and promote all elements in nature, which are so essential for life on the earth. Technology bereft of morals will be destructive to the environment and therefore, life on the earth, he asserted.
He lauded the role of the armed forces in protecting the security and integrity of the nation and providing safety to the citizens braving adverse situations.
Referring to the topic of the debate competition -- 'Maintenance of Human Rights is the primary pre-requisite for rule of law and constitutional governance' -- the NHRC chairperson said though it was more challenging for those who spoke against the motion, the arguments given by the participants for and against the motion indicate their sensibility and understanding, of the respect human rights require to be given during their operations, which is the aim of this debate competition for Central Armed Police Forces.
The CISF lifted the overall best team rolling trophy, winning the final round of the debate competition in Hindi and English.
Among the individual honours, the first prize for debate in Hindi went to Sub Inspector, Vikesh Timande, RPF, and in English to Sub Inspector, Nazish Khan, CISF.
Besides the certificates and a memento, the first, second, and third prize winners were also given cash awards of Rs 12,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 8,000 each respectively, the NHRC said in the statement.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
