Haryana to set up its own human rights commission

CHANDIGARH - Haryana will soon establish its own human rights commission to prevent violation of human rights like honour killings and attacks on Dalits.

“The state government has directed the administration to take necessary steps to establishing our own human rights commission at the earliest. The commission will be headed by a retired chief justice of a high court,” Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said Saturday.

Officials Sunday said the decision was taken in the wake of a long-pending demand of various social activists and NGOs to establish a separate human rights commission in Haryana.

“Although there is not an immediate need to have such a commission in Haryana as the law and order situation is very good…but we have taken this decision on the basis of demands from various organisations,” Hooda told IANS.

Currently, at least 14 states, including the neighbouring Punjab, have their own human rights commissions.

“We are committed to launch more such initiatives so that our citizens feel safe and secure. Recently, we also launched a Police Complaint Authority to keep a tab on unruly policemen,” Hooda said.

A State Human Rights Commission would play a key role in checking rights violations like honour killings and attacks on Dalits in Haryana.

On April 21, the houses of Dalits in Hisar district’s Mirchpur village were torched by members of the upper caste Jat community. A 70-year-old man and his 18-year-old physically challenged daughter were killed and at least 18 houses damaged in the attack.