SHRC settles 273/395 cases in Chikmagalur

As many as 395 complaints have been received by the State Human Rights Commission, of which 273 have been settled while 122 cases are not yet settled.

Speaking with this newspaper on Thursday, SHRC Member B Parthasarathy said that 395 cases were received from 2007 till date and the cases received in 2007 were settled in the same year. Only one case is pending from 2008, 27 from 2009 and 66 cases from 2010. He said that 20 cases need to be settled this year.

He said that most of the cases filed with the Commission are mainly connected to Menasinahadya encounter, police atrocities, health department, government hospitals etc. Many cases have been filed by people informing that drinking water sources have been polluted due to coffee pulping machines.

At the State, he said that the Commission had received a total of 25,530 cases eversince the inception of the Commission, of which 15,243 cases have been settled. Another 10,243 cases are pending. As many as 5,461 cases have been filed by the Commission voluntarily.

District units

If the Human Rights Commission has the power to hold inquiry into any issue, it means it should have its own investigation team, said Parthasarathy.

“We have been demanding the state to provide adequate manpower for the Commission and for opening up of District Units of Human Rights. Since there are no district centres, the people from various parts of the state are compelled to come to us or we have to go to them. This distance hinders speedy settelement of cases,” he said.

Venkatesh murder

Parthasarathy said that the Commission’s dedicated efforts to bring justice to Venkatsh’s family has led to the family receiving compensation from the Government. Venkatesh was brutally murdered by naxals suspecting him to be police informer, at Kigga.

Venkatesh’s wife had urged the Commission to make the Government give her a job as relief. Initially, due to technical glitches, the Government could not provide her a job.

Though the Commission kept pressurising the government to provide Venkatesh’s wife a job, she died of pneumonia. Government has announced an amount as compensation for family of Venkatesh but due to the efforts of the Commission, the amount was increased to Rs 5 lakh. The Commission has also successfully pursuaded the Government to bear the entire cost of the dead couple’s child’s education.