Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday blamed the “tendency of certain human rights activists to bat for human rights of terrorists” and convicted prisoners and not security forces. Citing the recent hue and cry raised over hanging of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon, the Home Minister said India has a healthy democracy but it does not mean that someone can hold the nation to ransom with guns in hands.
Addressing a conference of National Human Rights Commission here, Singh said Memon was executed after completion of all due judicial process. “He was convicted by the highest court of the country - the Supreme Court. But in that case also some people tried to raise the issue of human rights. For a person like me, I failed to understand why such things are raised,” he said in presence of representatives of State human rights commissions.
Referring to the issue of some organisations raising the issue of human rights of terrorists, Singh said he gets worried by such trends. “I get worried when some people raise the issue of human rights of terrorists and extremists when security forces resort to self-defence action. These people consider more important the acts of terrorists and extremists and their human rights than that of security forces.
“I have no hesitation in telling those people and organisations that in the democracy.. In India we have a healthy democracy, where there is a healthy democracy, how can we allow people place their demand with guns in their hands,” he said. The Home Minister asked legal luminaries and human rights experts to give suggestions on how to deal with this tendency. Justice Cyriac Joseph, the acting chairman of National Human Rights Commission chaired the meeting.