Human rights panel in Delhi may get delayed further

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal may have "initiated" the process of setting up a State Human Rights Commission, but the body may not see the light of the day without an amendment to the Protection of Human Rights Act (PHR) 1993.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had in 2013 written to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), urging it to amend the PHR Act to include a provision for setting up Human Rights Commissions in Union Territories as well.
No such amendment has been brought so far and the MHA is yet to respond to the NHRC's suggestion, sources in the human rights panel said.

"...Statistics reveal that the need for protection of human rights is felt in every part of the country and therefore there is a need for speedy constitution of Human Rights Commissions in the remaining states and UTs which do not yet have such a commission," the Commission said in a letter.
The letter had been sent to MHA on March 22, 2013 after the Commission, in a meeting on January 11, 2013, deliberated on the need for having such rights bodies in UTs across the country.
"It observed that protection of human rights everywhere being an important obligation on the part of states and UTs, the absence of HRC in any state or UT appears to negate the true objective and becomes an impediment in effective protection of human rights in that state/UT," the letter had added.

On August 3 Kejriwal had announced, from the floor of Delhi Assembly, that the AAP government had started the process of setting up a State Human Rights Commission following a Supreme Court directive in this regard.
"Delhi government was directed to set-up state human rights Commission. We have started the process of setting up the Commission. Police complaint authority will also be set up," Kejriwal had said.