SC recommends setting up of Truth & Reconciliation Commission to probe human rights violations in J&K

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday recommended the setting up of an impartial Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate and report on the violations of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir.

“I recommend the setting up of an impartial Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The Commission will investigate and report on the violations of human rights perpetrated both by the State and non-state actors in Jammu and Kashmir at least since 1980s and recommend measures for reconciliation,” said Justice S.K. Kaul in his separate concurring opinion rendered on a batch of pleas challenging abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.

Justice Kaul said that the Commission must be formed expeditiously before “memory escapes” and directed the Union government to ensure that this entire exercise must be completed in a time-bound manner.

He added, “There is already an entire generation of youth that has grown up with a feeling of distrust and it is to them that we owe the greatest day of liberation.”

Justice Kaul said that the Commission should not turn into a criminal court but must enable people to share what they have been through.