Armed conflicts of greater or lesser intensity are occurring in different parts of the world and have become part of our daily life, intruding in our homes via satellite TV, "breaking news" and the front pages of our daily newspapers. More and more they are targeting the civilian population. The unfortunate and inevitable consequence of these conflicts is misery and human suffering. If the international community as a whole as well as individual nation succeed in avoiding conflicts and settling all their differences by peaceful means, it will be an ideal achievement for the mankind. But as long as there are conflicts, be they international or internal, there is a need to mitigate suffering brought about by them to countless innocent people by taking certain steps purely on account of humanity, morality and public conscience. International humanitarian law precisely attempts to achieve this result by restricting those means and methods of warfare which cause unnecessary suffering or which are indiscriminate in character and also by obliging parties to a conflict to spare persons who do not or no longer participate in hostilities. Undoubtedly, this law has assumed considerable importance during the recent past in humanizing myriad of internal and international armed conflicts in different parts of the world. Irrespective of its violations at times, it has succeeded in alleviating suffering brought about by armed conflicts to a significant extent ^[1].