At Sathal Village in Dholka taluka, for the last several decades, whether it was the Congress or the BJP in power, a Scheduled Caste community had to walk 12 kilometres every time to cremate their loved ones because of discrimination. They were seeking justice. Now, after nearly 80 years, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has intervened and ensured that a cremation ground is identified and secured, thereby restoring a basic human right to the underprivileged community.The NHRC returned to Gujarat in the first week of September and held an open hearing that highlighted the state’s ongoing human-rights issues. Over two days at the National Forensic Sciences University (September 2–3, 2026), its members and the chairperson heard 45 cases involving police brutality, illegal detentions, custodial deaths, caste discrimination, civic negligence, industrial deaths, abuses against children and bonded labour.The commission closed 27 of these cases, ordered compensation of over Rs 3.7 crore for victims and families, called for urgent action from government authorities, and announced a new Standard Operating Procedure to help officials identify and address bonded labour in the state. The NHRC organised a press conference after its two-day exercise and shared details of the various cases, along with the action it had ordered.The hearing’s significance was not just in numbers or payouts – it exposed a damning pattern of state failure, from overreach and abuse of power to outright neglect and decades-long administrative paralysis.The NHRC hearing threw a harsh spotlight on the Gujarat police, with the headline case of Payal Goti—an Amreli woman whose arrest in the BJP MLA Kaushik Vekariya letter controversy has become a symbol of rights violations and police excesses. The NHRC’s order of Rs 7.5 lakh compensation for Goti delivered a stinging rebuke, holding the state publicly accountable for trampling individual rights. This case underscores not just the violation of due process, but a disturbing willingness by police to ignore statutory safeguards when the accused is politically inconvenient. Following BJP infighting, Payal, a young employee of one of the interested parties, was publicly paraded in town on December 29, raising questions about the police’s overbending towards those in power.Goti’s December 2024 arrest, followed by her public parading by police on December 29, ignited outrage and sharp debate about custodial conduct. The NHRC’s compensation order elevates this beyond an individual injustice—spotlighting the dangerous elasticity of police power, especially when politics enters the equation. The commission’s records pointedly note the alleged lack of proper notice in her arrest and reaffirm the Rs 7.5 lakh award.The Goti saga exposes a critical flaw in official accountability: the state’s later administrative maneuvers – like the suspension of three police officers, or the closure plea via ‘C’ summary report – do nothing to erase the original violation. The NHRC’s insistence on compensation drives home a vital message: the government’s liability for its agents’ misconduct endures, regardless of subsequent departmental or criminal proceedings. For Gujarat, the case reminds us that accountability cannot be retrofitted after the fact.The NHRC’s return, after nearly a decade, is a telling indictment in itself. Names and faces have changed, but the core failures – police impunity, caste discrimination, official indifference, and fatal negligence – are unresolved. Vulnerable citizens still struggle for the state’s attention, let alone justice.According to the NHRC, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), led by Chairperson Justice V. Ramasubramanian, concluded its two-day Gujarat Open Hearing and Camp sitting in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The Chairperson and Members, Justice Dr Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi and Vijaya Bharathi Sayani heard 129 alleged cases of human rights violations, including bonded labour, in the state. Complainants, victims, and concerned state government officers were present.Police: Repeated failures in protecting rightsAs Aziz Cutleriwala reported in Bhaskar English, while the commission found serious shortcomings involving individual police officers and teams, it observed that the cases did not point to systemic failures across the police department. At the press conference, Chairperson Justice Ramasubramanian did not generalise about the Gujarat police but did acknowledge failures in cases like the Payal Goti case.Of course, for victims, this distinction offers little comfort. Whether due to institutional rot or repeated individual failures, the bottom line is the same: Gujarat’s accountability and disciplinary mechanisms are simply not up to the task. The state’s ability to detect and prevent abuse remains dangerously weak.The crisis sharpens when police inaction sits alongside police excess. Citizens are at risk whether police overstep or refuse to act, making the state’s coercive power a double-edged sword and exposing a persistent accountability deficit where it matters most.Political interference and institutional bias may lurk behind many failures – even if intent is hard to prove. Police reluctance to act can stem from political pressure, local power dynamics, institutional self-protection, inadequate oversight, or cynicism that the powerless will ever get justice. The real test is whether the system imposes real consequences for inaction and abuse – or just lets them slide.The Goti case epitomises these tensions: an accusation against a politically powerful figure, a questionable police action, and a human-rights complaint that turned the spotlight squarely onto law enforcement itself. The NHRC may not have ruled on motive, but its intervention makes Gujarat’s police conduct an urgent public concern.When the government ignores its own watchdogJustice Ramasubramanian also indicated a quieter but deeply revealing failure: government departments routinely ignore deadlines to submit Action Taken Reports to the NHRC, sidelining the very process meant to deliver redress.Departments are supposed to respond in two to four weeks, but chronic delays persist – often ending only when the NHRC threatens to haul officials in under Section 13(1) of the Protection of Human Rights Act. Only then, said the Chairperson, do reports start arriving – an indictment of bureaucratic inertia.This is no mere paperwork problem. If a statutory commission must threaten officers with personal appearance to get a response, the government’s delay itself becomes an act of obstruction – deepening the crisis of accountability.Bonded labour: Gujarat’s persistent blind spotThe NHRC’s address on 27 bonded-labour cases exposed a persistent and dangerous problem: Gujarat’s officials either cannot or will not recognise exploitation unless it fits a textbook stereotype – leaving countless victims invisible to the system.Justice Ramasubramanian pointed out that seasonal and migrant workers often disappear before authorities arrive, making it easy for employers to evade scrutiny. He also flagged the trafficking of workers to brick kilns and other sites, where advances paid to middlemen are repaid through periods of forced labour – a practice routinely missed by local officials.With a new SOP in the works for Gujarat’s authorities, the NHRC made clear: the real problem isn’t a lack of law, but officials’ refusal – or inability – to enforce it effectively.This distinction is crucial. If officials dismiss allegations of bonded labour just because workers took an advance, they ignore the coercion that follows. The NHRC’s SOP aims to force a more honest reckoning with these abuses.The Gujarat hidden from the headlinesThe NHRC’s marathon hearings pulled back the curtain on a Gujarat rarely seen in official brochures or business summits.Gujarat often basks in headlines about economic growth, investment, and administrative prowess. But the NHRC’s actions, undoubtedly commendable, confront a far grimmer reality: the daily struggles of citizens dealing with police stations, unsafe factories, villages denied basic dignity, and a bureaucracy deaf to cries for help.The NHRC stopped short of branding Gujarat’s administration or police as wholly dysfunctional. Instead, it meticulously documented failure in every concerned case ordered relief, demanded compliance, and pressed for changes in how the state handles bonded labour and rights complaints.Sathal: generations of official neglect. Payal Goti: the price of unchecked police power. Bonded-labour cases: a bureaucracy blind to abuse. Delayed reports: an administration forced to answer only under threat. Each is a symptom of Gujarat’s deeper governance crisis.Eight years after its last full camp sitting, the NHRC leaves Gujarat with a damning record – and a mountain of unanswered questions about the state’s commitment to justice.The core issue isn’t the mere existence of human-rights abuses – even the best-run states have them. The real question is whether Gujarat’s institutions can detect injustice early, act without political fear, hold officials accountable, and ensure citizens don’t wait decades – or need a national outcry – before the state finally acts.Note: This is an edited version of the copy, revised on Monday, September 7, 2026 at 11.51 am following concerns raised about adherence to fair journalistic practices and inaccuracies. Vibes of India apologises for the earlier oversight.This article is republished from The Vibes of India with permission.