Jharkhand to set up human rights commission
By IANSWednesday, March 3, 2010
RANCHI - Jharkhand will set up a human rights commission to ensure that villagers in the state are not harassed and tortured in the name of anti-Maoist operations, an official said Thursday.
“The formation of a human rights commission was necessitated as there are scores of examples of violation of human rights in anti-Maoist operations. Villagers are unnecessarily harassed and tortured in the name of anti-Maoist operations,” a senior government official told IANS.
“Under Human Rights Commission Act of 1993, each state has to constitute a human rights commission. Even nine years after creation of Jharkhand no such commission has been constituted,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Jharkhand cabinet Wednesday evening cleared the government proposal to set up the commission. The state government will soon work out details about the functioning of the commission and who will head it.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren had last month asked the district police chiefs to review cases of villagers lodged in different jails on charges of being Maoists.
At present Jharkhand police has a human rights cell, which, however, does not have the manpower to take up many cases.
