The appointment of former Chief Justice of the Odisha High Court and Senior Supreme Court Advocate Justice S. Muralidhar as the Chair of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including East Jerusalem and Israel, marks a significant moment not just internationally, but for India’s global standing in human rights leadership.
Justice Muralidhar now helms a three-member Commission appointed by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), succeeding distinguished Brazilian expert Paulo Sergio Pinheiro.
As Chair, he will oversee investigations, direct fact-finding missions, evaluate evidence of violations, and shape the Commission’s final reports to the UNHRC and General Assembly. His leadership will be crucial in lending credibility to the inquiry, ensuring victims’ voices are heard, and strengthening the global rule-of-law framework.
Justice Muralidhar will play a decisive role in shaping narratives around proportionality, state responsibility, and civilian protection in conflict zones. His ability to synthesise complex legal, humanitarian and factual material will determine how the international community interprets recent events in Gaza and the West Bank, and what accountability mechanisms may follow.
Why Dr. Muralidhar?
Justice Dr. Muralidhar’s career is marked by a series of landmark judgments that established him as one of India’s most rights-conscious and independent judges. In the 2002 Gujarat riots cases, as a lawyer, he played a pivotal role in securing convictions, including in the Best Bakery case, strengthening India’s jurisprudence on command responsibility and witness protection.
On the Delhi High Court bench, he authored the crucial 2018 judgment, convicting 16 policemen in the 1987 Hashimpura massacre, calling it a targeted killing of Muslims and underscoring the state’s duty to ensure justice in communal violence cases.
During the 2020 Delhi riots, Justice Muralidhar ordered urgent medical attention for victims and questioned police inaction, hours before being transferred. He also delivered significant rulings on police reforms, environmental accountability, and LGBTQ+ rights, consistently foregrounding constitutional morality and the protection of the vulnerable.
Internationally, his appointment signals trust in India’s judicial tradition of balancing rights, accountability, and humanitarian concerns.
Why this matters for India
India rarely gets a leadership position in UN mechanisms scrutinising armed conflicts and humanitarian crises. Justice Muralidhar’s appointment places an Indian jurist at the helm of a body whose findings shape global diplomatic debates from sanctions to arms embargoes. This enhances India’s image as a nation capable of providing principled, rights-based global leadership.
India has deep strategic, economic, and diaspora-linked interests in both Israel and the Arab world. The government has maintained a calibrated position on Gaza, condemning terrorism while expressing concern over humanitarian suffering. Having an Indian as Chair of the CoI doesn’t alter India’s official position, but it elevates India’s role in shaping humanitarian discourse without compromising national diplomatic interests.
Indian judges and lawyers have historically been under represented in high-level UN investigative mechanisms. Justice Muralidhar’s elevation is a reminder of the depth of Indian legal expertise and strengthens the case for involving more Indian legal minds in international adjudicatory and inquiry bodies.