By Azera Rahman, IANS,
New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh and Delhi – in that order – accounted for 67 percent of human rights violations registered by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) over the last one year, data revealed by the commission showed. The document said a total of 78,657 human rights violations were registered by NHRC across the country between Dec 1, 2009, and Oct 31, 2010.
Of these, 46,917 violations were in the state of Uttar Pradesh, while 5,498 were in Delhi. The other three worst performers were Bihar, with 2,742 cases, Rajasthan with 2,456 cases and Maharashtra with 2,191 cases.
“While Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of violations registered, its size is also a factor that has to be taken into account. For Delhi, especially since it is the capital of the country, it’s a dismal performance,” an NHRC official told IANS, not wishing to be identified because of institutional rules.
The violations are segregated into 21 categories – those related to children, health, jail, judiciary, the mafia, labour, minorities, police, pollution and environment, refugees, service matters, women, paramilitary, defence forces, terrorism, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, juveniles, foreigners and riots.
The highest number of human rights violations in Uttar Pradesh were against the police — a whopping 18,068.
Not just this, of the total number of cases the commission registered over the past 10 years until March 31, 2010, the highest number were against the police.
According to earlier data, NHRC registered 377,216 complaints against the police until March this year and of these, 248,505 came from Uttar Pradesh.
According to the official, the nature of complaints against police include arbitrary use of power, abduction, rape, custodial violence and death, fake encounter and unlawful detention.
In Delhi, the highest number of violations over the past one year, 2,025, have been clubbed under miscellaneous.
“Under miscellaneous, there are cases like the disappearance of a person, land dispute, hunger strike, family dispute, inaction by the state government or central government, matrimonial disputes, labour disputes and atrocities by the custom department and likes,” the official said.
Thirty-five of the total number of cases registered were based on suo motu cognisance of media reports.
Among those where the lowest number of violations have been reported are Lakshadweep with three cases – two related to service matters and one under miscellaneous – and seven each in Daman and Diu and Sikkim.
The NHRC, a recommendatory body, was set up in 1993.
(Azera Rahman can be contacted at [email protected])