Human rights discourse is predominantly derived from the liberal philosophy. Most of the human rights declarations have been formulated incorporating the philosophical tenets of thinkers like Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu amongst others. But all liberal conceptscannot be applied to non-western societies because they are not compatible with their different social and cultural backgrounds. Hence, scholars whether communitarians or feminists from both western and non-western worlds have challenged the liberal notion of human rights on multifarious grounds. Further, how Universal Declaration of human rights, which is derived from liberal philosophy, can be called universal when most of the third world countries were not free when it was formulated.There is no doubt that liberal notion of rights has played a very significant role in the evolution of modern human rights discourse, securing individual against multitudinous tyrannies of state and society. But non-western societies have not developed as per the parameters of liberal traditions and have different social and cultural constructs to secure human dignity. Many issues like concept of individual, priority of rights over duties, male-centrism, absence of community and cultural rights have been contentious,that have characterized the human rights debate.In order to develop a truly universal human rights, there is need to incorporate non-liberal conception of rights along with the liberal traditions. But caution has to be exercised while selecting the useful and relevant and eschewing the repugnant elements of any culture.