Human Rights Day: 10 timely interventions by Supreme Court, high courts against violations

Toilet facilities for all

In January, the Supreme Court asked High Courts and state governments to ensure accessible and separate toilet facilities for men, women, transgender people and persons with disabilities in all court premises and tribunals. Linking proper washroom facilities with access to justice, the bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and M Mahadevan gave each High Court six weeks to set up a committee that would formulate a comprehensive plan and ensure its implementation.

Delayed release

The Supreme Court, in June, directed the Uttar Pradesh government to pay Rs 5 lakh as provisional compensation to a man whose release was delayed after he was granted bail by the court. Rapping the jail authorities concerned, the Supreme Court asked the Principal District Judge, Ghaziabad, to inquire into the delay.

Custodial torture

Terming the alleged custodial torture of a J&K Police Constable “deeply shocking to” its “conscience”, the Supreme Court, in July, ordered a CBI probe into the matter and a compensation of Rs 50 lakh. Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta also asked the CBI to register an FIR within seven days.

Bulldozer action

On November 13, 2024, the Supreme Court laid down guidelines to curb demolition of people’s homes and private properties by the government “only on the ground that they are accused of a crime”.

A Bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan held that such actions violated the rights of the accused, including the presumption of innocence, unfairly punished the other tenants who have not been accused of anything, and violated the right to shelter under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Mental health and suicides

Outlining the rise in suicides and mental health issues among students in educational institutions, the Supreme Court issued pan-India guidelines, in July, to combat the problem. The court directed all educational institutions to establish robust, confidential, and accessible mechanisms for the reporting, redressal, and prevention of incidents involving sexual assault, harassment, ragging, and bullying on the basis of caste, class, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or ethnicity.

Manual scavenging

In November, the Calcutta High Court directed the state and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to pay Rs 20 lakh to the families of the sewer workers who died while cleaning a sewer line in south Kolkata. “Manual scavenging is a grave, human rights concern and its persistence is a blot on the nation’s conscience,” the bench noted while calling the issues a “stark reminder” of countries’ ongoing struggle to ensure basic human dignity and rights for all citizens despite significant progress in various fields.

Illegal detention

Observing that “arrest brings humiliation, curtails freedom and casts scars forever,” the Bombay High Court declared the 20-day custody of a Karnataka-based man in a cheating case by the Mumbai Police as “illegal and without lawful authority” and directed the Maharashtra government to pay him Rs 1 lakh as compensation.

Disabled prisoners

In a bid to address the needs of disabled prisoners across India, the Supreme Court has recently issued directions to protect their rights. Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed a slew of directions on a PIL filed by Sathyan Naravoor seeking appropriate legal framework and facilities to disabled persons who are undergoing incarceration in the prisons as undertrials or convicts.

Child care leave

Participation of women in the workforce is a constitutional entitlement and denying mothers child care leave violates this, the Supreme Court said, on April 2024, on a plea by a woman, an assistant professor in the Government College, Nalagarh, who said the Himachal Pradesh government had denied her child care leave to attend to her child who is suffering from a genetic condition.

These are just some of the instances where the courts across the country have stepped in, there are many other cases where the timely intervention of the court has upheld the human rights of persons.

Time and again, courts have stood as the guardian of human rights, protecting the basic rights enshrined in the constitution.