PROTECTING DIGNITY OR RECORDING VIOLATIONS? THE NHRC AND VIOLENCE AGAINST MARRIED WOMEN

The article critically discusses the function of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in tackling violence against married women in India and doubts whether it is a body of protection or it is just a body to record the violation of human rights after the incident. Based on the statutory mandate of the NHRC, judicial observations, empirical facts, and the lived experiences of survivors of domestic violence, the article concludes that interventions of the NHRC, the majority of which are retrospective, are inadequate and insufficient to provide timely and effective relief. It argues that if the NHRC does not engage proactively, it is failing to fulfill its human rights mandate, and the consequences are that victims have no meaningful institutional protection. The article concludes that the NHRC needs to take a more preventive, accountable, and victim-centered approach, making dignity more than just a matter of documenting abuse; it should be a matter of preventing the abuse of human rights.