New Delhi, 3 June 2005

The NHRC has asked for the comments of the Chief Secretary, U.P. and District Magistrate, Pratapgarh, U.P. regarding a media report of a Panchayat ordering a rapist to wed a victim.
The newspaper had reported on 18 May 2005 that a village panchayat at Takia village in Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh had ordered a young man accused of raping a minor to marry her in order to make amends for his crime at the earliest. It further disclosed that Munier, alongwith a cousin, had lured the girl into his house on Sunday and the two had raped her when his family members had gone elsewhere to attend a wedding on the day of the incident. The girl's family had approached the village elders for help when they learnt of the incident. The news story quoted the family as not wishing to inform the police since the girl's father works in Mumbai and most of the family members are women. The father of the accused it was stated works in Saudi Arabia. According to the news report, the panchayat has further asked both the families to call their respective fathers from Mumbai and Saudi Arabia for the wedding. The district police officials when contacted, feigned complete ignorance about the incident.
The Commission has given two weeks time for a reply from the state government. If the contents of the report are true, it raises serious issue of violation of human rights and an affront to the supreme dignity of a young woman.

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Police Lathicharge Tribals including children in Orissa, NHRC asks its Special Rapporteur to enquire

New Delhi, 7 June 2005

Taking suo-motu cognizance of a news report in the 'Asian Age' newspaper dated 17th May 2005 captioned "Lathicharge on Tribals kills babies too", the NHRC has directed that a copy of the news item be sent to its Special Rapporteur, Shri A.B. Tripathy, to inquire into the matter and to submit his report within two weeks.
The news story had stated that a group of tribals numbering around 5000 from the Kalinganagar area of Orissa had gathered on 9th May 2005 to protest against non-payment of dues for land acquired for the construction of Steel Plants and delay in rehabilitation by the State Government. They were brutally assaulted by the police and the barbarous and uncivilized act of police, the news report stated, had left four tribals including two children dead. Many more people who were injured in the alleged police lathicharge were reported to be in a critical condition. It was also reported that the police in order to justify its action have arrested 26 people including 25 women. The news item went on to state that a young girl, who was severely beaten up by police still remains untraced and that criminal cases against 300 unidentified tribals under various Sections of IPC have been registered. None of the policemen, according to the news report have sustained serious injury.
The Commission has observed that if the contents of the report are true, it raises serious issue of violation of human rights of the tribals.
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