Bengaluru: The South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM) has called upon the Government of Karnataka to be more committed to protection and promotion of human rights.
Members, at a press meet here on Saturday, called for the immediate appointment a chairperson for the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission, a position which has been lying vacant for many years. Justice S.R. Nayak demitted office in July 2012.
On December 18, 2013, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Darmar Murugesan was appointed as chairman of State Human Rights Commission. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and attended by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra. But Justice Murugesan declined, following protests by Kannada organisations that he was a non-Kannadiga. Unable to find a suitable person to head the KSHRC, the government had resorted to a short-term measure and appointed former bureaucrat and one of the panel’s members, Meera C. Saksena, as acting chairperson. She retired on November 20, 2017 after completing the term.
Week-long festival
On Human Rights Day (December 10), Amnesty International India, along with four Bengaluru-based colleges, including St. Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, St. Joseph’s College of Commerce, Sampurna Montfort College, and Christ (Deemed to be University), is holding a week-long inter-college festival called ‘Haq’.
The festival will be a platform for students to discuss their role in strengthening human rights in the country.
It will see film screenings, cultural performances and panel discussions. For details, visitwww.facebook.com/events/523790081334850
