BY- TANYA SHARMA
“We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist”
– James Baldwin
Human Rights can be defined as the moral principles, or norms, or basic rights which are inherent to all human beings in the world irrespective of nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status, since birth until death. These rights are not granted by any state but are regularly protected in municipal and international law. Human rights belong to each and every one of us equally and are universal, inalienable, indivisible, interdependent, equal and non-discriminatory in nature. Acting as both rights and obligations, these rights ranges from the most fundamental, i.e. the right to life to those that make life worth experiencing, like the right to food, work, well being, education, and freedom. But is this exactly happening in reality? Is everyone enjoying their human rights? The answer to this is unfortunately ‘NO’. The newspapers, TV channels, Digital and Social Media are flushed with the cases of rape, murder, torture, sexual harassment, slavery, child abuse, custodial death, kidnapping, etc.
Especially a woman, right since her birth, becomes victim of a crime or target of a crime. The National Crime Records Bureau of India in its 2012 report stated that there is delineated crime percentage of 46 for every 100,000, rape and sexual assault of 2 per 100,000, dowry deaths figure of 0.7 per 100,000 and the estimate of domestic abuse by the spouse or his relative as 5.9 per 100,000. A woman faces many problems regarding her rights since her birth, may it be her being born as a girl child, her education rights, her marriage rights, her abortion rights or being sexually or mentally abused at her office or in-laws’s house, or may her being raped or gang raped or marital raped or being an acid attack survivor or being a woman with disability or waiving away her inheritance rights under family pressure or being traded away as a product for sex and slavery. A woman struggles and fights for her rights in each and every aspect of her life. In the landmark case of Centre for enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT) v Union of India , the Supreme Court of India banned all advertisements relating to pre-natal sex determination techniques and directed the Central and State Governments to enact the provisions of PNDT Act immediately. In the famous case of Laxmi v Union of India , a petition was filed by an acid attack victim, named Laxmi, seeking measures to regulate the sale of acid and provide adequate compensation to the victim. The Supreme Court in this case imposed ban over the counter sale of acid and directed the dealers to sell acid unless the buyer provides a valid identity proof and states the need for the purchase. Also the Court made it mandatory for the dealer to submit the details of the sale within 3 days to the Police. In another case of Vishaka v State of Rajasthan , the Apex Court defined the term “sexual harassment” and put the onus on the employers to provide a safe working environment for women. In the other famous case of Lata Singh v State of Uttar Pradesh , the Supreme Court held that an adult woman has the right to marry or live with anyone of her choice and ordered the police to initiate criminal action against people who commit violence against those who decide to do inter-religious or inter-caste marriages. Also, in the case of State of Tamil Nadu v Suhas Katti , the defendant sent defamatory and obscene messages to the plaintiff online in a Yahoo message group because she refused to marry him. The Court, considering the provisions of Information Technology Act, 2000, convicted the accused to undergo a fine and with rigorous imprisonment of 2 years. For the offense of rape abuses, the Supreme Court in the cases of The Chairman, Railway Board v Chandrima Das and in the case of Bodhisattwa Gautam v Subhra Chakraborty held that Rape is not only a mere offence under the Indian Penal Code but is a heinous crime against the society as a whole also it abuses and violates the right to life and right to live with human dignity of the rape victim. There are many other landmark judgments provided by our courts which are used as a tool to uphold the basic rights of women.
Here, a question arises, “Are Men Safe?” Its answer is ‘NO’. Even men become victim to rape, sexual harassment and domestic violence. According to a study , 52.4% of men face sexual orientation based brutality and out of 1000 men, 51.5% experienced savagery from the spouses or intimate partners once in the course of their life and 10.5% in the last 12 months. The most well-known spousal brutality was sentimental (51.6%) followed by physical abuse (6%). Also men have to face false accusations and trials as some women use “women-favoring laws” as a tool to harass the men. There are certain reasons due to which domestic violence cases against men go unreported, these reasons are: firstly, the general stereotype against males that “men don’t cry” and due to this males feel ashamed to be judged and labeled as wimpy and effeminate by the society; secondly, males are feared of fake cases and losing their families; thirdly, men face societal and family pressure and are ashamed of opening up about violence and; lastly, the society will deny the fact that a man could also be a victim of domestic violence and they feel that domestic violence can only happen to women.
Children who are considered as the gifts from God and future of tomorrow are subjected to crimes namely, rape, child pornography, physical and emotional abuse, sex trafficking of minors, grievous hurt, etc. There have been 31.2 per cent cases of crimes against children registered under the POCSO Act also as per the ‘Crime in India’ 2019 report of the National Crime Record Bureau, there has been an increment in crimes against children by 4.5 per cent as compared to 2018 and an increment in registration of cases under the POCSO Act by 18.9 per cent. The NCRB report also stated as many as 148,185 crimes in the country against children in 2019.
Violation of human rights means cursing humanity and society but talking about the current situation where a deadly and infectious disease, COVID-19 has grasped the world in its inevitable clutches, the situation has gone even worse. Especially in our country, people are pleading the government to ensure equitable health care system, uphold free speech and reduce prison population. COVID-19 infections in India broke the global record on 27th April, 2021 by 320,000 recorded cases, nearly 2800 deaths and total to more than 17 million cases since the pandemic began in 2020 . There has been shortage of oxygen supplies, medicines, ventilators, hospital beds, ambulances, and cremation and burial services. Here, our government was expected to have invested in the country’s weak infrastructure since the pandemic began but unfortunately the government failed to do so because they were allowing and participating in large-scale gatherings, including election campaign rallies and in promoting a Hindu religious event where millions of people participated. To solve all the evolving issues, the government should remove all the hurdles coming in the supply chains of essential medical goods and services and should ensure requisite supply of oxygen, life-saving medicines, ventilators and testing kits. According to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health should be provided to all. This is what exactly ‘Right to Health’ means, in which effective steps are taken by the government to ensure health facilities, goods and services which are available in sufficient quantity and accessibility, and without discrimination. Regarding ‘free speech’ Human Rights Watch said that the government should censor free speech as that would ultimately limit effective communication about the pandemic and undermine trust in government actions. Also the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights asked the India Government to release every person detained without sufficient legal basis namely, political prisoners and those detained for critical and dissenting views, in order to reduce and prevent the surging rates of infection in prisons and detection centres. Thus, the Indian Government should take immediate steps in order to prevent detained individuals, especially older people or people with disabilities or with underlying health conditions from the serious effects of COVID-19.
In general, to stop human rights violation, the state should bear the primary burden of responsibility for protecting and encouraging human rights. Specific laws should be made and must be enacted with strict vigilance. In case of occurrence of violations of human rights, the government should intervene and prosecute those who are responsible because when a government ratifies a treaty, it ensures respect, protect, and fulfillment of human rights. Not only Government but also the civil society should take up the responsibility in preventing human rights violations. If the government is violating human rights, directly or indirectly, then civil society should stand against it and hold them accountable. Also the established businesses and institutions should comply with the discrimination laws so that each and every person must be treated equally. The International Committees also keep a check on the governments and their track record with human rights and if any breach occurs, they are brought to the attention of International Tribunals or are tried in an International Court. Thus, violations occur every time, so instead of ignoring it we should stand against it and that is the only way we can bring a change in our society and will be able to make this planet a worth living place for all of us.
Download Your E-Article/E-Paper here!!
The Audiobook is only available for a week. Make sure you download it from the online link. (If you forget to download Your Audiobook don’t worry just reach out to us via [whatsapp] we will help you with the same.)
The Independent Pioneer 