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Sonia plans human rights cell in Congress

George Iype in New Delhi

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has decided to set up a human rights department in the All India Congress Committee to sensitise party workers on the use and misuse of human rights, protect people from rights violations and to oversee the conduct of senior party members.

The human rights watchdog -- to be created for the first time by a political party in India -- will be headed by former chief justice Ranganath Mishra. Mishra, who also headed the National Human Rights Commission, is currently a Congress member of the Rajya Sabha.

The other members of the department will be senior Congress Working Committee member Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Janardhan Reddy and Sonia confidante and former Union minister Margaret Alva.

While the party will formally announce the creation of the new department soon, Congress sources cite two reasons that compelled Sonia to take the initiative for constituting the human rights wing in the party.

First, for the last five years, though the NHRC has been asking political parties to set up human rights cells at central, state and district levels, various party leaderships have ignored the demand.

"Sonia thinks that since the Congress is the most powerful political party in the country, it should create the most powerful department for the promotion and protection of human rights," a Sonia aide told Rediff On The Net.

Secondly, the Congress president is said to be "disturbed" by the innumerable complaints that the party's grievances cell receives daily from voluntary groups, party district and state units on a host of rights violations including custodial deaths, rape, torture, child labour, child prostitution, female foeticide and infanticide.

Therefore, the Congress rights body will now enquire into complaints of violation of human rights by party members and intervene in any human rights cases pending before a court with the approval of such court.

The rights cell will visit any jail or institutions under the control of central or state governments where persons are detained or lodged for purposes of treatment, reformation or protection to study the living conditions of inmates and make recommendations.

It will study allegations of "fake encounters" in insurgency-hit states like Jammu and Kashmir and the north-eastern region.

It will review the safeguards provided under any law for the protection of human rights, study international instruments and treaties on human rights and recommend measures for their effective implementation.

The Congress human rights watchdog will also spread rights literacy among various sections of society and promote awareness of the safeguards available for the protection of these rights through publications and seminars.

Congress leaders believe Sonia's initiative in setting up the human rights cell will give credence to her plans to lead the party honestly and force other political parties to follow her footsteps.

Already, an ethics committee appointed by Sonia has come out with a 19-point moral and ethical code of conduct for the party workers.

The moral rule book prepared by CWC member A K Antony urges leaders to shun criminals, pay taxes and promote gender equality in society and forbids partymen to disassociate from religious and caste groups to avoid any communal flare-ups and caste discrimination in the country.

It also prescribes party leaders to abstain from alcohol and intoxicating drugs, to habitually wear simple dress and believe in an integrated society without showing any discrimination toward any religious groups.

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