NHRC to hear complaints on atrocities against Scheduled Castes at an 'open hearing' in Gujarat on the 14th-15th May,2012
New Delhi, May 11th, 2012
A delegation of the National Human Rights Commission headed by Mr. Justice K.G. Balakrishnan will be in Ahemdabad in Gujarat from the 14th-15th May,2012 to listen at an ‘open hearing’ the issues relating to atrocities against Scheduled Castes and the problems faced by them in seeking justice from the State Government agencies. Mr. Justice B.C. Patel, Member, Mr. A.K. Garg, Registrar (Law) and senior officers of the Commission will be part of the NHRC delegation.
The Commission after hearing the affected people will also meet with the representatives of NGOs and later on hold discussions with the Chief Secretary, DGP and senior civil, police and jail officials on these issues alongwith other major outstanding cases pertaining to the State of Gujarat .
The open hearing will be held at Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute on the 14th May, 2012 from 10.30 am onwards. Later a meeting with the representatives of NGOs will be held at the same venue from 4.00pm onwards. The meeting with the State officers as part of open hearing will be held on the 15th May, 2012 at 11.00am at Circuit House Annexe, Shahibaug, Ahemdabad and the Chairperson will address a press conference at 4.00pm at the same venue.
The Commission has decided to hold such open hearings to reach out to the Dalits and hear their complaints about violations of their rights by the public authorities as part of the recommendations given by Mr. K.B. Saxena, IAS(Retd) in his report commissioned by the NHRC on the continuing problems faced by the Scheduled Castes .
The report is available on the NHRC website: www.nhrc.nic.in. Among the recommendations Mr. Saxena made was one that the Commission organise at least one open hearing a year "where the victims of major atrocities can present their experiences and grievances in seeking justice from Government agencies and human rights bodies/non-governmental organizations/social workers and activists may apprise the Commission of difficulties encountered by them in taking up their complaints. In the interaction with the State Government subsequent to the hearing, the Commission may convey its observations and advice on various actions to be taken for effective enforcement of law, sustaining confidence of victims and, where required, looking into the conduct of officials coming in for adverse reference during the hearing. The follow up action on the hearings may be monitored."
To begin with, the Commission had organized an ‘open hearing’ at Puri in Odisha on the 9th April, 2012. A delegation from NHRC headed by Mr. Satyabrata Pal, Member heard the grievances of members of Schedules Castes and representatives of prominent NGOs of the State.
More than 200 complaints were received during the hearing. During the hearing, 72 victims narrated their grievances in the presence of State authorities. Hon’ble Member while urging the authorities dealing with the complaints to be more sensitive to the victims of violation of human rights and do the needful as per law to address their grievances, advised them to effectively extend all poverty amelioration projects and schemes of the Government like Indira Awas Yojana, Mid-Day Meal, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Integrated Child Development Projects and National Rural Health Mission to the needy families and people below poverty line, as it would minimize the number of such cases.
The National Human Rights Commission, set up under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 with a mandate to promote and protect human rights in the country, has always paid particular attention to the needs of the weakest sections of Indian society, among whom the Scheduled Castes are among the most vulnerable. Their human rights have been systematically violated for centuries, and, despite the protection now formally afforded to them by the Constitution and the law, including the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, they continue to suffer discrimination, while their socio-economic condition remains a matter of the gravest concern.
Special care is both needed and justified for them, and therefore the Commission takes suo-motu cognizance of reports of atrocities committed against or problems faced by these communities, deals on priority with complaints it receives of human rights violations committed against them and works closely with other key stakeholders, including the NGOs who champion their cause, to try to get them justice and to bring them redress.
Because the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes suffer from a prejudice that is so deeply entrenched, both the general public and public servants need to be made aware of the scale of the problem, and of their responsibilities under the law to protect and promote their rights. The Commission therefore holds regular training programmes and workshops, and has published booklets, to encourage all stakeholders to work together to ensure that there are no atrocities committed on these communities, that there is no discrimination against them, or any other violation of their human rights.
In December, 2007, together with the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, the Commission organised a National Consultation on "Strengthening Civil Society Initiatives for Scheduled Castes" at New Delhi. It took a decision to launch awareness campaigns in four districts which had a high record of atrocities against Scheduled Castes: senior officials from the Commission went to Bharatpur in Rajasthan and Faridabad in Haryana and a member of the Commission visited Jaipur and Ajmer in Rajasthan.
A delegation of the National Human Rights Commission headed by Mr. Justice K.G. Balakrishnan will be in Ahemdabad in Gujarat from the 14th-15th May,2012 to listen at an ‘open hearing’ the issues relating to atrocities against Scheduled Castes and the problems faced by them in seeking justice from the State Government agencies. Mr. Justice B.C. Patel, Member, Mr. A.K. Garg, Registrar (Law) and senior officers of the Commission will be part of the NHRC delegation.
The Commission after hearing the affected people will also meet with the representatives of NGOs and later on hold discussions with the Chief Secretary, DGP and senior civil, police and jail officials on these issues alongwith other major outstanding cases pertaining to the State of Gujarat .
The open hearing will be held at Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute on the 14th May, 2012 from 10.30 am onwards. Later a meeting with the representatives of NGOs will be held at the same venue from 4.00pm onwards. The meeting with the State officers as part of open hearing will be held on the 15th May, 2012 at 11.00am at Circuit House Annexe, Shahibaug, Ahemdabad and the Chairperson will address a press conference at 4.00pm at the same venue.
The Commission has decided to hold such open hearings to reach out to the Dalits and hear their complaints about violations of their rights by the public authorities as part of the recommendations given by Mr. K.B. Saxena, IAS(Retd) in his report commissioned by the NHRC on the continuing problems faced by the Scheduled Castes .
The report is available on the NHRC website: www.nhrc.nic.in. Among the recommendations Mr. Saxena made was one that the Commission organise at least one open hearing a year "where the victims of major atrocities can present their experiences and grievances in seeking justice from Government agencies and human rights bodies/non-governmental organizations/social workers and activists may apprise the Commission of difficulties encountered by them in taking up their complaints. In the interaction with the State Government subsequent to the hearing, the Commission may convey its observations and advice on various actions to be taken for effective enforcement of law, sustaining confidence of victims and, where required, looking into the conduct of officials coming in for adverse reference during the hearing. The follow up action on the hearings may be monitored."
To begin with, the Commission had organized an ‘open hearing’ at Puri in Odisha on the 9th April, 2012. A delegation from NHRC headed by Mr. Satyabrata Pal, Member heard the grievances of members of Schedules Castes and representatives of prominent NGOs of the State.
More than 200 complaints were received during the hearing. During the hearing, 72 victims narrated their grievances in the presence of State authorities. Hon’ble Member while urging the authorities dealing with the complaints to be more sensitive to the victims of violation of human rights and do the needful as per law to address their grievances, advised them to effectively extend all poverty amelioration projects and schemes of the Government like Indira Awas Yojana, Mid-Day Meal, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Integrated Child Development Projects and National Rural Health Mission to the needy families and people below poverty line, as it would minimize the number of such cases.
The National Human Rights Commission, set up under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 with a mandate to promote and protect human rights in the country, has always paid particular attention to the needs of the weakest sections of Indian society, among whom the Scheduled Castes are among the most vulnerable. Their human rights have been systematically violated for centuries, and, despite the protection now formally afforded to them by the Constitution and the law, including the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, they continue to suffer discrimination, while their socio-economic condition remains a matter of the gravest concern.
Special care is both needed and justified for them, and therefore the Commission takes suo-motu cognizance of reports of atrocities committed against or problems faced by these communities, deals on priority with complaints it receives of human rights violations committed against them and works closely with other key stakeholders, including the NGOs who champion their cause, to try to get them justice and to bring them redress.
Because the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes suffer from a prejudice that is so deeply entrenched, both the general public and public servants need to be made aware of the scale of the problem, and of their responsibilities under the law to protect and promote their rights. The Commission therefore holds regular training programmes and workshops, and has published booklets, to encourage all stakeholders to work together to ensure that there are no atrocities committed on these communities, that there is no discrimination against them, or any other violation of their human rights.
In December, 2007, together with the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, the Commission organised a National Consultation on "Strengthening Civil Society Initiatives for Scheduled Castes" at New Delhi. It took a decision to launch awareness campaigns in four districts which had a high record of atrocities against Scheduled Castes: senior officials from the Commission went to Bharatpur in Rajasthan and Faridabad in Haryana and a member of the Commission visited Jaipur and Ajmer in Rajasthan.