NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION NHRC INDIA Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 This report of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) covers the period from 1st April 2017 to 31st March 2018. It is the twenty-fifth Annual Report of the Commission. 1.2 The twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Commission, covering the period from 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017, was submitted to the Central Government on 10th April, 2018 for preparing the Memorandum of Action Taken and placing the same before each House of Parliament in accordance with the procedure laid down under Section 20 of the “Protection of Human Rights Act (PHRA), 1993” and its amendment thereby in September 2006. 1.3 During the period under report, Justice Shri H.L. Dattu (former Chief Justice of India) continued to serve as Chairperson in the Commission. Justice Shri D. Murugesan (former Chief Justice of High Court of Delhi), Shri S.C. Sinha (former Director General, NIA) and Smt. Jyotika Kalra (Advocate on record, Supreme Court of India) continued to serve as Members in the Commission. Justice Shri P.C. Ghose (former Judge Supreme Court of India) taken over as Member in the Commission w.e.f. 30.06.2017. 1.4 Dr. Satya Narayan Mohanty, IAS (1980: Telangana Cadre), former Secretary General, retired from service on 30.06.2017 on attaining the age of superannuation. Shri Ambuj Sharma, IAS (Tamil Nadu: 1983) earlier posted as Additional Chief Secretary/Industries Commissioner & Director of Industries and Commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu, taken over as Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of NHRC w.e.f. 05.08.2017. Shri Gurbachan Singh, Director General (Investigation) joined the NHRC w.e.f., 27th December, 2017, Shri Surajit Dey, Registrar(Law) joined NHRC w.e.f. 30th October, 2017 and Shri Dilip Kumar, IAS (1995: Punjab) joined NHRC as Joint Secretary(T&R) on 16th May, 2018 respectively. 1.5 As provided in Section 3 (3) of the PHRA(1993), Prof. (Dr.) Ramshankar Katheria, the Chairperson of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes, Shri Nand Kumar Sai, the Chairperson of the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes, Shri Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities and Smt. Rekha Sharma, the Annual Report 2017-2018 1