By Keya Acharya
BANGALORE, India, Nov 22 1999 (IPS)

Law students and Indian judges are being trained to be more sensitive to human rights issues in India, which, although the world’s largest democracy, has a dismal record of rights protection.

The National Law School here, which attracts some of the finest students from India and the region, has instituted a Human Rights Chair, the first of its kind, set up by the National Human Rights Commission, a government-appointed watchdog, in 1998.

Its Chairperson, Prof Karkala Seetharamam, a member of the faculty, says advocating human rights in governance, especially in rural areas, is their main focus.

“Awareness of socio-economic rights is very marginal, especially outside state High Courts and India’s Supreme Court. We have made a small beginning towards awareness by initiating district-level judiciary workshops,” he points out.

The Chair has an ambitious agenda of preparing rights- curricula for academic programmes, training advocates, judges, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and for sensitising India’s police force.

But students at the Law School, who study rights issues through seminars and workshops in their fifth and final year, express doubts about pursueing it as a career option, and say it is not financial remunerative.

“We know about rights’ issues,” says final year student Priyanka, 22. “But actual practice — who will pay us for it? I feel duty-bound to pay back some amount of the expensive education that my parents have paid for.”

“If organisations could put up a corpus fund for paying us, more (new lawyers) would go in for rights’ cases,” says fourth- year student Dev Kanya.

Rights law as a practice is in its infancy in India. A final year student, Shuva, thinks aspiring lawyers like him run the risk of not being taken seriously if they opt for rights law.

Dr N.L. Mehta, Law School director, agrees things need to change, but insists his institute will play a “significant role” in changing perceptions to social sector laws “in the whole of Asia”, given its international participation, a sentiment that Bangladeshi student Syed Hamid Raza endorses.

The Bangalore institute has helped frame the constitution of South Africa, he claims.

India’s top Supreme Court is also pushing for change. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Dr A.S. Anand, recently said the training of judges in India’s 18 high courts and a network of subordinate district courts can wait no longer.

India’s Constitution, framed in 1950, was greatly influenced by the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, covering socio-economic, civil and political rights, rights of women, children and refugees.

Part 3 of its Constitution assures citizens the right to equality, personal freedom and religion, cultural and educational rights, constitutional remedies and against exploitation.

In 1993, the same year as the Human Rights Summit in Vienna, the National Human Rights Committee was set up under India’s Protection of Human Rights Act.

But India is recalcitrant in the enforcement of rights. Violations like bonded child labour, atrocities against women, environmental abuse are common.

Karnataka Advocate-General, A.N. Jayaram, says poverty hinders the implementation of all UN covenants by India although there are judicial commitments to the right to legal aid, speedy trial, to go abroad, human dignity, immunity against torture and inhuman punishment.

“Human rights will continue to be a huge problem for us as long as there’s poverty. We need to separate the two issues,” he asserts, adding that, “social bodies could help by educating and ensuring that some basic norms are observed.”

Poverty also comes in the way of enforcing the right to work of all citizens, in spite of livelihood being a constitutional right, explains Vilas Datar, practising advocate.

“Where will the state produce so many jobs?” he asks.

But Justice Y. Bhaskar Rao, chief justice of the Karnataka High Court, says he is optimistic about the courts providing protection of human rights.

Karnataka has very recently become one of three Indian states to set up judicial training academies for judges, and conducted it first training course for civil judges. Human rights is a special subject offered in the course, says Justice Rao.

Will the mindset of the judiciary change over time? Prof Hasan Mansur of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Karnataka, the oldest civil liberties group in India, is unsure.

Poor peasants continue to be oppressed and landless though the government is committed to end feudalism and implement land reforms, he says. Neither has India been able to enforce the constitutional right of children to primary education.

Excerpt:

By Keya Acharya
BANGALORE, India, Nov 19 1999 (IPS)

Law students and Indian judges are being trained to be more sensitive to human rights issues in India, which, although the world’s largest democracy, has a dismal record of rights protection.

The National Law School here, which attracts some of the finest students from India and the region, has instituted a Human Rights Chair, the first of its kind, set up by the National Human Rights Commission, a government-appointed watchdog, in 1998.

Its Chairperson, Prof Karkala Seetharamam, a member of the faculty, says advocating human rights in governance, especially in rural areas, is their main focus.

“Awareness of socio-economic rights is very marginal, especially outside state High Courts and India’s Supreme Court. We have made a small beginning towards awareness by initiating district-level judiciary workshops,” he points out.

The Chair has an ambitious agenda of preparing rights- curricula for academic programmes, training advocates, judges, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and for sensitising India’s police force.

But students at the Law School, who study rights issues through seminars and workshops in their fifth and final year, express doubts about pursueing it as a career option, and say it is not financial remunerative.

“We know about rights’ issues,” says final year student Priyanka, 22. “But actual practice — who will pay us for it? I feel duty-bound to pay back some amount of the expensive education that my parents have paid for.”

“If organisations could put up a corpus fund for paying us, more (new lawyers) would go in for rights’ cases,” says fourth- year student Dev Kanya.

Rights law as a practice is in its infancy in India. A final year student, Shuva, thinks aspiring lawyers like him run the risk of not being taken seriously if they opt for rights law.

Dr N.L. Mehta, Law School director, agrees things need to change, but insists his institute will play a “significant role” in changing perceptions to social sector laws “in the whole of Asia”, given its international participation, a sentiment that Bangladeshi student Syed Hamid Raza endorses.

The Bangalore institute has helped frame the constitution of South Africa, he claims.

India’s top Supreme Court is also pushing for change. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Dr A.S. Anand, recently said the training of judges in India’s 18 high courts and a network of subordinate district courts can wait no longer.

India’s Constitution, framed in 1950, was greatly influenced by the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, covering socio-economic, civil and political rights, rights of women, children and refugees.

Part 3 of its Constitution assures citizens the right to equality, personal freedom and religion, cultural and educational rights, constitutional remedies and against exploitation.

In 1993, the same year as the Human Rights Summit in Vienna, the National Human Rights Committee was set up under India’s Protection of Human Rights Act.

But India is recalcitrant in the enforcement of rights. Violations like bonded child labour, atrocities against women, environmental abuse are common.

Karnataka Advocate-General, A.N. Jayaram, says poverty hinders the implementation of all UN covenants by India although there are judicial commitments to the right to legal aid, speedy trial, to go abroad, human dignity, immunity against torture and inhuman punishment.

“Human rights will continue to be a huge problem for us as long as there’s poverty. We need to separate the two issues,” he asserts, adding that, “social bodies could help by educating and ensuring that some basic norms are observed.”

Poverty also comes in the way of enforcing the right to work of all citizens, in spite of livelihood being a constitutional right, explains Vilas Datar, practising advocate.

“Where will the state produce so many jobs?” he asks.

But Justice Y. Bhaskar Rao, chief justice of the Karnataka High Court, says he is optimistic about the courts providing protection of human rights.

Karnataka has very recently become one of three Indian states to set up judicial training academies for judges, and conducted it first training course for civil judges. Human rights is a special subject offered in the course, says Justice Rao.

Will the mindset of the judiciary change over time? Prof Hasan Mansur of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Karnataka, the oldest civil liberties group in India, is unsure.

Poor peasants continue to be oppressed and landless though the government is committed to end feudalism and implement land reforms, he says. Neither has India been able to enforce the constitutional right of children to primary education.

Excerpt: