GUARDIANS OF HUMAN RIGHTS

 GUARDIANS OF HUMAN RIGHTS

If someone comes forward to protect legitimate rights of humans, there can be no objection to it. But, the present happenings in our country reveal that groups with ulterior motives operate in the guise of human right protectors. There is more to it than what meets the eye. Yes, groups are on the prowl looking for opportunities to field self as a human right activist, lending voice for the voiceless. Does it mean that we should suspect such help as ‘motivated by intent of exploitative design’?  Certainly not. There could be a few honest ones too. By and large such activists seem to grab an opportunity to project self as a guardian of the hapless victims of circumstances. Human rights have become an international item of interest and they do have a global network with the stated objective of safeguarding the rights of weak groups that stand vulnerable to denial of rights by authorities.  Ironically, some groups emerge as guardians of rights, while their innate design appears to be something else. Several educated, well employed persons too, identify themselves with such activists; it is an easy route to hog limelight and crave for publicity. I have known a few persons who are professionally incompetent but have managed social recognition through such efforts of self projection.

The basic question is why- small territories need so many groups branding themselves as activists of human rights. Does it also mean that the violation of rights is in such a scale that vigil has to be exercised every minute through several agencies? There is no reason to believe that authorities are not safeguarding rights of citizens and so vigilant groups have come into being. As pointed out earlier, ramifications of such agencies spread on a global scale with some free flow of funds. Chances are that funds are released for a noble cause of protecting rights of humans; taking advantage of such supplies, several entities have sprung up over the last few years.

Having come into being, such groups are obliged to register protest over every happening in an area. For instance, when some suspects for a crime are interrogated, Human rights protector groups launch protest over any police action. Certainly, any police excess cannot be tolerated; but, well before such un-toward happenings, these guardians field their volunteers in numbers, causing disruption of traffic and routine movement of personnel to and from workplaces.  May be that the group behind the ‘showdown’ seeks to have media reporting of their vibrant response, justifying the monetary support lent to them. The frequency of such ‘showdowns’ make these groups prominent among political parties. Slowly, these groups have taken political slants and seem to wield influence with specific political outfits. Inevitably, one has to infer that some such groups have the blessings of certain political outfits for causing disruption. Such an inference of ours is fortified, if we observe that for similar social happenings, the same human right groups make a huge fuss or stay totally dormant based on the ruling group in office at the time of such mishaps. Additionally, on instances of child abuse or sexual assault on girls, these groups of human right guardians take diametrically opposed stance- may be playing down the incident when the ally is holding power.

Why is that we are tempted to doubt their intentions?  For instance, on matters of political assassinations, such activists voice themselves against any serious action against assassins and their accomplices. They conveniently ignore the basic tenet that none has any right to end another man’s life. Taking sides in such ghastly events, these activists ignore the sufferings / loss of lives of innocent on-lookers or passers-by; but keep on insisting meager punishment for culprits. It is too naïve to believe that such activists are honest in their effort to safeguard human rights. Their disposition to issues looks rather skewed because they do not regard lives of police or army personnel as much as they stand by disruptive forces or some blatant criminals in any act of crime. By function, they guard the rights of a few humans by choice of convenience, in India.

Prof. K. Raman