Mahajan calls for balanced view on human rights

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today stressed on the need for balance when considering the human rights of those accused of crime and the victims.
"It is important that no one should be in jails for years just like that. But at the same time, what is the circumstance of the victims? ...They do not have just physical wounds, they have mental wounds as well. There should always be a balancing view," Mahajan said, addressing a function organised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to observe the Human Rights Day.
"There was a question in Parliament recently on undertrials. You (NHRC) have gone to the jails and witnessed the situation... There are talks of crimnals but I think, there should be talks of victims as well. There should be a balance between both," she said.

Mahajan also drew attention to the condition of security personnel who have been accused of human rights violations.
"When we talk about human rights, there are times, when there are allegations on our security jawans as well...We also have to see under what circumstances they were working. I am talking about everybody. A balanced view is needed presently," she said.
She said that violation of rights in households as well as villages should also be given priority and the society needs to give issues like honour killings a serious thought.
"When we talk about social stability...The violation of rights in households, one should give importance to that... today honour killing is such a subject which the entire society has to think... What the society wants on this. Our girls are deprived of the right to education today," she said.

She noted that if we minutely look at Indian culture, its holy books and thought processes, there is not only talk about human rights in them, it talks about the rights of all the beings which reside in this universe.