The provisions of the Human Rights Act, 1993, should be popularised among the public as it will act as a deterrent, said G. Rajagopalan, senior advocate, Supreme Court, and former Additional Solicitor-General here on Wednesday.  

Delivering the 17 ^th Late S. Parthasarathy I.P. (retd) Memorial Trust Endowment Lecture at the Department of Criminology, University of Madras, he said that in many countries, awareness about the Human Rights Act was created by organisations working in the field.  

He said that this was necessary given the low level of legal literacy in India. People could write to the State and National Human Rights Commission if they feel that their rights were violated, he said. Since the commissions were headed by former judges, they had the power to initiate action against the errant persons.  

V. Vaikunth, former Director-General of Police and president of the S. Parthasarathy Memorial Trust, said the late Parthasarathy joined as an apprentice under eminent lawyer Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer. He then appeared for the Imperial Police Examination and was selected for the service in 1926. He worked as Commissioner of Police of Madras for three years, then moved to Delhi as IG, RPF, and was IG, Travancore State from 1944-1947.