Human Rights

A right is the power or privilege to which one is justly entitled or has a just claim. Rights serve as rules of interaction between people, and they place constraints upon the actions of individuals or groups. For example, if one is granted a right to life, this means that others do not have the liberty to murder him. There are several things that by law as citizens of this country we have a right to. In taking up your rights, you must uphold the rights of others. Human Rights are the basic rights of human being because anybody is human first then citizen of any country. Human rights are those basic standards without which people cannot live in dignity. To violate someone’s human rights is to treat that person as though she or he were not a human being. Not only criminals violate human rights but even government violates human rights of individual. Death penalty is a violation of basic human right of “Right to Life”. In UK, through human right act of 1998, death penalty was completely abolished. Government of India is violating human rights to great extent through Armed Forces Special Protection Act (AFSPA). Once an area is declared 'disturbed' under this Act, the armed forces of the union can arrest and detain citizens without warrant, search and destroy properties without warrant and even use force to the extent of killing citizens on mere suspicion. And no legal action can be taken up against the armed forces without the prior sanction of the central government. Since it was first imposed half century ago, AFSPA has legitimised a series of gross human rights violations. Fundamental rights such as the right to life, the right to a fair trial, the right to remedy and reparation, the right against torture and the right against arbitrary detention (as well as a series of economic, social and cultural rights) have been consistently violated in the areas where AFSPA has been used. Ms. Irom Sharmila, a Manipuri poet, has created history as she enters the 10th year of her indefinite hunger strike protesting against this act. Even the people of society violate the human rights. As an example, we can take the recent cases of honour killings in Haryana. The khap panchayats are going beyond the human rights to put their culture and tradition first. The government is unable to take the necessary steps against khap panchayats because government has to think about its vote bank first. It is true that in democracy, government should do what the society wants or majority of people want but it is also necessary at the same time that individual’s right should not be violated. To advocate human rights is to demand that the human dignity of all people be respected. Law is for the welfare of humanity first, then society.