National Human Rights Commission Chairman A S Anand on Friday said there were more safeguards in Prevention of Terrorism Act as compared to the lapsed Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Act.
But the rights body chief specified the need for more such safeguards in the Act.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on Human Rights and Peace in Urdu Literature, organised in New Delhi by the Union of Supreme Court Lawyers for Human Rights, Anand denied that the act was being misused for political reasons.
Emphasising that the NHRC would "monitor the implementation of POTA with great vigilance", Anand said, "We will not permit the abuse of POTA."
Terming the issues of maternal care, girl child, child labour, custodial violence and abuses during investigations as the "biggest challenges" of human rights facing the country today, Anand said the NHRC was taking serious note of these "issues of survival".
"These are not issues of excellence but issues of survival, which affect the marginalised sections of the country," he said. But he added that the main theme of the NHRC would be to preserve, protect and promote the human rights of citizens of the country.