Human Rights Commission recommends Rs 20.5 lakh compensation in four NE states

Guwahati: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has recommended Rs 20.5 lakh as compensation for violation of human rights in four NE states, its chairperson Justice Arun Kumar Mishra said on Friday.

The NHRC took up 40 cases, including 23 from Assam, 13 from Manipur, three cases of Nagaland and one from Arunachal Pradesh during its two-day open hearing and camp sitting here, Justice Mishra told reporters.

Sikkim representative was present at the hearing but there was no case from that state.

The Commission after considering the reports and hearing both sides closed five cases where recommendations of compensation have been complied with by the states, he said.

The NHRC recommended compensation of Rs three lakh to the next of kin in a case of police custodial death in Assam's Tinsukia district, Rs three lakh in an encounter death in Arunachal Pradesh's Changlang district, Rs five lakh in a custodial death in Manipur's Imphal (East) district and Rs 4.5 lakhs in a similar one in Mon district of Nagaland.

In the case of an employee, who became disabled at his workplace and his service was terminated, the Commission directed that alternative arrangements be made for his reinstatement to the service as per the Disability Act. It also directed for payment of arrears of his wages.

The Commission while dealing with a case of rape of a tribal woman by a GRP personnel in Cachar district of Assam, asked the state government to pay Rs five lakh to the victim.

Justice Mishra said that police carry weapons to protect people and not to become violators of human rights. "A jail should be like an ashram where the prisoners need to be reformed so that when they come out they become responsible citizens and not indulge in criminal activities again".

It is the duty of the state governments to adopt mechanisms to reform the society and ''I am glad that all of them are alive to the human rights of the people," he added