Minority rights panel lies defunct as discrimination complaints soar

Complaints of discrimination from minority communities are piling up before the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), with Union government data showing a significant rise in pendency over the past five years.

This comes at a time when the NCM has been left without a chairperson or members, effectively rendering it non-functional.

A written reply by Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju in the Rajya Sabha, on December 3, to a question asked by CPI(M) MP AA Rahim, shows that pending complaints from Muslim community members have shot up from just three cases in 2020-21 to 217 in 2024-25, while pendency for Christian complainants has risen from zero to 42 in the same period.

Complaints in decline

This ballooning backlog is not because complaints are rising; in fact, complaints have declined in the past two years. Experts say this decline reflects not fewer incidents, but a collapse in the Commission’s functioning, leaving minorities with little faith in the institution.

“It’s not a hidden fact that minorities have been facing increased challenges in the past few years. And, with the disbanding of the Commission, they have no recourse but to go to the courts. That is where the actual data can be found,” said advocate Anas Tanwir, a Supreme Court lawyer specialising in civil liberties cases concerning minorities.

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Despite the fall in complaints, disposals have also slowed sharply, causing pendency to spike. In 2020-21, the NCM disposed of 1,102 of 1,105 complaints it received from Muslims, and all of the 103 complaints it received from Christians. Last year (2024-25), it received 855 complaints from Muslims and 95 from Christians, yet it only disposed of just 638 and 53 cases, respectively.

Inefficiency in functioning

The crisis comes amid a prolonged institutional vacuum at the Commission. The statutory body comprising a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, and representatives for each notified minority community (Parsi, Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh, Jain and Christian), has been vacant for months, after the last Chairperson, Iqbal Singh Lalpura, demitted office this April.

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With no members appointed since then, the quasi-judicial body, which is legally mandated to investigate discrimination and safeguard minority rights, has been functioning on paper, but not in practice.

No answers from Centre

In a separate query about the NCM, Rajya Sabha MPs IB Inbadurai from the AIADMK and KR Suresh Reddy from the BRS asked the government whether it has “initiated any process for filling up these vacancies, and if so, the present stage of such process” and “whether any interim arrangements have been made to ensure that the functioning of the NCM is not adversely affected”, among other things.

In response, Rijiju said that “grievances which are received in the Commission continue to be taken up with the concerned authorities for redressal”, despite the Commission functioning without members. The data, however, contradicts this claim, as pending cases continue to pile up.

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The government also did not provide clear answers or timelines on when the Commission is likely to be reconstituted, with Rijiju stating, simply, “The Government endeavours to appoint the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and all the Members of the Commission.”

Minority rights under threat

“This data shows a fraction of the truth… The numbers are much lower than what the real picture is. Many people are not even in a position to complain, and when they lodge a complaint, it is not registered properly. And when it is registered, it is not disposed of. This is something the whole world knows. It’s the reality of Modi’s India,” Congress MP from Bihar Mohammad Jawed told The Federal.

Human rights activist and former member of the National Integration Council, John Dayal, said the disbanding of such commissions sent out a larger message.

“It is a matter of coincidence, but a coincidence that should embarrass the Government of India, that Pakistan has just enacted legislation giving constitutional status to its minority commission. And here, the Minority Commission has been without any member for a long time, and many states do not even have a notion of a nominal minority commission,” he said.

'Dangerous' situation

“You (the government) have no respect for their rights, and you have no intention to grant them, in letter and in spirit, their rights as people," Dayal added. "Your inclination has been noted and followed by the courts of law, by the police and the administration, who in their behaviour are showing or reflecting the same feelings, the same tendencies…

"To me, this is very dangerous, because it is not just the fact that the government is amiss in its regard and respect for the rights of religious minorities, but that the agencies of the government read the mind of the government and then follow suit, leading to a miscarriage of justice and anarchy in the streets instead of the rule of law."