Bhubaneswar: A petition has been filed with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking its intervention in the alleged starvation death of a tribal woman in Nayagarh district.
Rights activist Pradipta Nayak has filed the petition alleging violation of human rights and right to food of Dukhi Jani, 46, a resident of Kaliamba village in the district who died June 24, 2020.
It was alleged she died after three days of starvation. To buttress his allegations, Nayak cited the report of a fact-finding team which visited the spot to enquire into the matter.
The petitioner stated that the tribal woman was deprived of benefits under several government schemes due to administrative apathy and also due to non-possession of an Aadhaar card.
“Her access to subsidised food was limited and irregular. Although the victim had an Annapurna card sanctioned in March 2016, she had got the rice last November 2018. She was deprived of free rice since November 2018,” the petition said.
“She was entitled to get pension as single woman but could not get it in spite of applying for it several times to local Panchayat and block officials out of administrative negligence’s and apathy, the village people complained,” it added.
It was also alleged that the deceased neither had a job card under MGNREGS nor had Jan Dhan account which could have helped her with direct cash support provided by the Union government during Covid-19 lockdown.
“She also did not get the rice and dal provided under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana. She presumably did not have a ration card. The fact-finding team members who spoke to the villagers said in spite of approaching panchayat and block officials, the woman could not get a ration card under Antyodaya Anna Yojana as she did not possess an Aadhaar card,” the petition said.
The petitioner has sought an enquiry by the district administration in this regard and sought stringent punishment to the officials whose lapses caused deprivation of her rights.
