Supreme Court Upholds Karnataka Human Rights Court Rule Enabling Direct Public Complaints

In a significant decision reinforcing legal access and criminal judicial procedure, the Supreme Court of India has upheld Rule 6 of the Karnataka State Human Rights Courts Rules, 2006. A division bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta set aside a Karnataka High Court judgment that had struck down the rule as unconstitutional and ultra vires delegated legislation. The dispute stemmed from a private complaint filed by a citizen before the Special Judge for Human Rights Court in Vijayapura, alleging custodial human rights violations by local police officers. The High Court had quashed the proceedings, reasoning that an aggrieved person must first approach the National or State Human Rights Commission before initiating court action. Reversing that finding, the apex court ruled that the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 provides two distinct and complementary channels: recommendatory human rights commissions and judicial courts. The Supreme Court clarified that nothing in the central statute makes a commission's inquiry or recommendation an indispensable prerequisite to criminal proceedings before a Human Rights Court. By validating Rule 6, the apex court revived the criminal case registered against Vijayapura police officers, confirming that citizens across Karnataka possess a direct procedural right to seek judicial redress for human rights violations.