NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, INDIA v. Rapid Action Cell (RAC): From the year 2007, the Investigation Division has taken the initiative of making a Rapid Action Cell functional in the Commission. Under RAC cases, the Investigation Division deals with cases which are of a very urgent nature e.g. the allegation may be regarding a child marriage likely to be performed the very next day or else the complainant fears that a relative or friend picked up by the police may be killed in a false encounter. In all such cases, the Investigation Division takes up the urgent follow up required by the Commission. It may require speaking to them personally over telephone to ascertain facts, faxing the complaint to various authorities for reference and asking them to send their replies expeditiously – all these actions are performed by the Investigation Division. During the period 01.4.2019 to 31.3.2020, the Investigation Division has dealt with 90 such RACs where immediate intervention by the Commission was able to prevent not only Human Rights violation but also threats to human life & liberty. vi. Debate Competition for personnel of Central Armed Police Forces: In order to promote human rights awareness and spread sensitization towards it among the personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), the Investigation Division has been regularly organising a debate competition on such issues every year since 1996. Moreover, since 2004, as desired by the Hon’ble Chairperson, zone-wise debate competitions have also been organized as a run up to the final competition, for larger participation of the CAPF’s all over the country. The semi-final and the final rounds of teams selected during the zonal competitions are subsequently organized in the Capital. Each year this event sees enthusiastic participation and an outstanding level of brainstorming sessions. The Commission provides necessary financial assistance to CAPFs for conduct of these debates. Last year (2019-2020), the nodal agency for conduct of the annual debate was Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP). After the zonal competitions in eight different zones across the country, the semi-final competition was held in Chandigarh on 30th Aug 2019, organized by ITBP in collaboration with NHRC. The topic of debate in the semi-final event was "The existing legal framework & institutions are sufficient to ensure protection of Human Rights in India". The final debate competition was held in New Delhi at the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) Auditorium on 27th Sep 2019, organized by the ITBP in collaboration with NHRC. The topic of final event was "Terrorism & militancy in the country can be tackled effectively while observing Human Rights". The occasion was graced by Hon. Member of the Commission Justice Shri P.C. Pant, Secretary General NHRC Shri Jaideep Govind, Director General ITBP Shri S.S. Deswal, Director General (Investigation) NHRC Shri Prabhat Singh, Ex-Director General NHRC Shri Sunil Krishna and Registrar NLU-Delhi Prof. (Dr.) G.S. Bajpai. In the final event a total of 16 participants (8 for Hindi & 8 for English) took part in the competition. Trophies, certificates & cash prizes were given to the winners in each category and the Rolling Trophy was won by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20 35