Civil liberties Sachar was one of the authors of a report issued on 22 April 1990 on behalf of the
People's Union for Civil Liberties and others entitled
"Report on Kashmir Situation". In January 1992 Sachar was one of the signatories to an appeal to all Punjabis asking them to ensure that the forthcoming elections were free and were seen to be free. They asked the people to ensure there was no violence, coercion or unfair practices that would prevent the people from electing the government of their choice. Sachar was appointed to a high-level Advisory Committee chaired by Chief Justice
Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi to review the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 and determine whether structural changes and amendments were needed. The committee prepared a draft amendment Bill incorporating its recommendations. These included changes to the membership of the
National Human Rights Commission, changes to procedures to reduce delays in following up recommendations and a broadening of the commission's scope. The recommendations were submitted the Home Affairs ministry on 7 March 2000. In April 2003, as council for the
People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Sachar argued before the
Supreme Court of India that the
Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) should be quashed since it violated fundamental rights. On 24 November 2002 the police arrested twenty six people in the
Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu, and on 10 January 2003 they were placed under POTA by the government on the grounds that they were members of the
Radical Youth League of the
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist). On 26 August 2004, still being held without trial, the detainees began a hunger strike. Sachar led a team of human rights activists who visited them in jail on 15 September 2004 and persuaded them to end the hunger strike. POTA was repealed on 10 November 2004. However, all the POTA provisions were incorporated in the
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. In October 2009 Sachar called for abolition of these laws. He said "Terrorism is there, I admit, but in the name of terror probe, many innocent people are taken into custody without registering a charge and are being detained for long period".
Housing rights Sachar, who had formerly been a United Nations special rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, headed a mission that investigated housing rights in Kenya for the Housing and Land Rights Committee of the
Habitat International Coalition. In its report issued in March 2000 the mission found that the Kenyan government had failed to meet its international obligations regarding protection of its citizens' housing rights. The report described misallocation of public land, evictions and land-grabbing by corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. Rajindra Sachar participated with retired justices
Hosbet Suresh and
Siraj Mehfuz Daud in an investigation by the
Indian People's Human Rights Tribunal into a massive
slum clearance drive in Mumbai, which had the ostensible purpose of preserving the
Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The demolitions on 22–23 January 2000 had been undertaken despite a notification from the state government to stay demolitions until September. The people had not been allowed to take the remains of their homes, which had been burnt. Sachar described the scene as "Barbaric, savage. It's as if a bomb has fallen here". In August 2000 the judges, joined by former Supreme Court judge
V. R. Krishna Iyer, held a two-day hearing into the clearances in which about 60,000 people had been evicted. The inquiry covered both legal aspects of the clearances and the human impact. Sachar headed a People's Court in 2002 to deliberate on people affected by evictions required to widen the Beliaghata Circular Canal in
Kolkata, needed for health and safety purposes. Most of the people were poor handcart pullers, maidservants, hawkers and so on. The court called for consultation with the affected people as part of the project's decision-making process. They should be treated humanely, without force or coercion, and should not be evicted during periods of bad weather.
Sachar committee In March 2005 Justice Rajinder Sachar was appointed to a committee to study the condition of the Muslim community in India and to prepare a comprehensive report on their social, economic and educational status. On 17 November 2006 he presented the report, entitled
"Report on Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India", to Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh. The report showed the growing social and economic insecurity that had been imposed on Muslims since independence sixty years earlier. It found that the Muslim population, estimated at over 138 million in 2001, were under-represented in the civil service, police, military and in politics. Muslims were more likely to be poor, illiterate, unhealthy and to have trouble with the law than other Indians. Muslims were accused of being against the Indian state, of being terrorists, and politicians who tried to help them risked being accused of "appeasing" them. The
Sachar Committee recommendations aimed to promote inclusion of the diverse communities in India and their equal treatment. It emphasised initiatives that were general rather than specific to any one community. It was a landmark in the debate on the Muslim question in India. The speed of implementation would naturally depend on political factors including the extent of backlash from
Hindutva groups. The
Sachar Committee Report recommended setting up an institutional structure for an Equal Opportunity Commission. An expert group was established that presented a report, including a draft bill to establish such a commission, in February 2008. There was opposition. Thus, a speaker at a seminar in April 2008 sponsored by a group called "Bharatiya Vichar Manch" described the report as unconstitutional, saying "It should be rejected completely. It is on communal lines and will divide the country. It is a result of vote bank politics".
Other activities on the International Women's Day, 2010 In 2003, as counsel for the
Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), Sachar and
Prashant Bhushan challenged the government's plans to privatise
Bharat Petroleum and
Hindustan Petroleum. CPIL said that the only way to disinvest in the companies would be to repeal or amend the Acts by which they were nationalised in the 1970s. In December 2009 it was reported that Sachar was being proposed as
Governor of West Bengal to replace
Gopalkrishna Gandhi, whose term had expired. In the event,
Devanand Konwar was appointed acting governor. At the age of eighty-seven Sachar was detained by Delhi Police on 16 August 2011 during the
India Against Corruption protest. The arrest was for unlawful assembly and for making speeches in a location where a magistrate had declared the
Section 144 rules were in force. Sachar claimed that he knew the law and should not be arrested, but despite this he was taken into custody. Sachar was a guest at anti-India conferences organized by
Ghulam Nabi Fai in the US. Fai was later convicted as an ISI front, bribing US politicians using money from Pakistan. ==Other statements==