State human rights commission: Retired Meghalaya HC chief justice is first chief of Delhi body

In July 2015, the Supreme Court had asked the Delhi government to set up the SHRC within six months. The court had observed that the government had failed to appoint the SHRC despite the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, being enacted 22 years ago.

The apex court had observed that the NHRC Curtain Raiser, published on its 20th Foundation Day, showed that of the 94,985 fresh cases registered with the NHRC, the largest number (46,187) came from Uttar Pradesh. This was followed by Delhi (7,988) and Haryana (6,921).

In August 2015, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had directed that the process for setting up the SHRC be initiated.

The government, on December 11 last year, had thanked the Chief Justice of India “for drawing attention on this important issue of public importance and human dignity” in his address to mark Human Rights Day on December 10.

Singh, who was first sworn in as an additional judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2001, was also a judge in the Punjab and Haryana High
Court and the senior-most judge at the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, prior to being appointed Chief Justice of the Meghalaya HC in March 2015. He demitted office on January 14.

Prasad, a child rights and RTI activist, had also contested the Lok Sabha election in 2014 as an AAP candidate from Vaishali, Bihar. He holds a law degree as well as a postgraduate degree in social work from DU.