The paper is an attempt to bring out how Human Rights or an idea of a justice system applicable to the human world as a whole is at odds with idea of justice in communities and societies which have developed their own indigenous community-based systems of dispensing justice. This is especially true in the case of countries with a colonial past. These countries had their own set of beliefs, traditions and rituals, some of which may appear unjust and inhuman to a world that believes in ‘common rights for all human beings’. Surprisingly it is the colonial masters who have shown concern for those colonial subjects who were victims of seemingly unjust, local moral practices devised by hegemonic patriarchal set-ups. The local colonial subjects considered this as interference in their private religious and social beliefs and practices and opposed it tooth and nail. This and other related issues will be explored in detail.