Each and every person on this planet is entitled to some inalienable rights as a human being – regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, says a universal declaration adopted by the United Nations over 70 years ago.
However, there are millions among us who are robbed of the rights to lead a dignified life. Cases of grave human rights violations are growing steadily across the globe.
Therefore, December 10 has been marked as International Human Rights Day and the objective of the occasion is to improve the physical, social, cultural and spiritual well being and welfare of the vulnerable group of people globally.
Ahead of this day, a few rights defenders shared with Sunday POST some memorable human rights violation cases that they had taken up to bring positive changes in the lives of victims.
Lawyer and rights defender Prabir Das needs no introduction. Be it the Pipili gangrape incident or the case of a scheduled caste youth’s illegal detention in police custody for over eight years, Prabir has been in the forefront among the custodians of humanity.
He has successfully pleaded many cases against the poor and oppressed.
In one of such cases, Pratap Naik, a scheduled caste youth from Boudh, was handed down life imprisonment by Phulbani Sessions Court in a case but the Odisha High Court found him innocent and acquitted him. However, the Sessions Court failed to issue the release order which made the youth languish in jail for eight years more. Meanwhile, Prabir filed a public interest litigation seeking an inquiry into the incident and demanding a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the victim. He claimed that the right to liberty of Pratap Naik under Article 21 of the Constitution had been grossly violated in the hands of the state agencies. Acting on his complaint, OHRC ordered Rs 8 lakh as compensation to the family.
Prabir also presided the sensational Pipili gagrape incident in which the High court not only monitored the investigation, it also kept an eye on the victim’s treatment at SCB Medical College and Hospital. The court finally directed the Puri Superintendent of Police to launch a probe into the incident and submit a status report in a week’s time.
The directions came in response to a petition filed by none other than Prabir, who drew the attention of the court on the plight of the girl and her family. They were subjected to untold sufferings due to denial of treatment and police inaction. Finally, the victim’s family was given Rs 10 lakh as compensation after her death.
In yet another case, many elderly persons lost their eyesight after undergoing cataract operations in an eye camp at Dharmagarh in Kalahandi. Prabir filed a PIL seeking guidelines by the honourable High Court for organising eye camps so that such incidents would not be repeated and also seeking compensation for the victims. Acting on his PIL, victims were provided compensation Rs 2.5 lakh each.
“I never view my work as occupation or profession rather I view it as a justice delivery mission. I hail from Mayurbhanj , a tribal dominated district. I am well aware of the condition of poor people including tribals, dalits, destitutes. In fact their suffering brought me to the legal profession. I am committed to fight for the cause of humanity in general and the deprived sections of the society in particular,” said Prabir who decided not to get married to devout more time to help out the oppressed.
Manoj Jena is an active member of the National Human Rights Commission. Born in a socially backward family in Jajpur district, Manoj had a passion for social service since his schooldays. He has fought some of the most high-profile cases.
In 2012, as many as 35 students of Kendu Sevashram at Nayagarh fell ill after consuming the mid-day meal. One of the students named Mini Majhi died while undergoing treatment at the Nayagarh district headquarters hospital. Following Manoj’s intervention in the matter, NHRC ordered Rs 5 lakh as compensation to Mini’s family and Rs 25,000 each to the students who were hospitalised. “Though such incidents were not new in the state, the government did not seem interested in coming up with measures to avoid such incidents in future,” Manoj says.
Thanks to Manoj, the next of kin of custodial death victim Kuldeep Mohapatra got justice. Mohapatra posed as a special branch inspector and extorted money from a businessman in Bhubaneswar. He was arrested by the Sahid Nagar police but found dead in custody. Police tried to suppress the case claiming that he was assaulted by the mob which caused the death. It was only after Manoj’s taking up of the case with the NHRC that the concerned police officer was asked to pay Rs five lakh from his salary to the victim’s family.
In another incident, a woman from Digapahandi in Ganjam district, who was the sole breadwinner of her family, died during a botched family planning operation done by an eye specialist. Manoj filed a petition with NHRC following which the commission ordered a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of the deceased.
Well known rights defender Biswapriya Kanungo has stood up for the rights of women, the oppressed, the environment and for equality among other issues.
In one such case, Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) ordered the police to pay compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh each to two people of Bargarh district who were unlawfully arrested. The duo was arrested in 2016 by Paikmal police under the supervision of the then-Investigating officer (IO) on charges of killing a boy. However, the boy returned home after two years.
According to Biswapriya who ensured justice for the accused, Jitu Dandasena, a resident of Piplipali village under Paikamal police limits in Bargarh district went missing on December 7, 2016. During the course of the investigation, police arrested Halu Gurla and Raghab Naik of Bargarh town December 24, 2016, on charges of murder and destroying evidence. The two were later sent to jail.
Kanungo informed the Commission that the arrests were made by the Investigating Officer on the basis of circumstantial evidence. The accused were first arrested by Paikamal police after they recovered Dandasena’s mobile phone. Once the police were unable to trace the missing person, they forced the two men to admit to a crime they did not commit and added Section 302 of the IPC (murder) to the chargesheet.
Later on, both of the accused were sent to judicial custody. They remained in jail for about a year before getting bail. However, Dandasena returned home in 2018 from Kolkata. Kanungo knocked at the door of OHRC seeking justice for the victims.
It was because of Kanungo, the state rights panel recommended that the Odisha government make a provision for officers to undergo a course on human rights, human psychology and behavioral science.
“Police instead of adopting proper procedure, innovative and scientific methods, turn accused-centric,” feels Kanungo.
Akhand is yet another activist who plays a pivotal role when it comes to dealing with cases of grave human rights violation. Since 2011, he has been closely associated with the Civil Society Forum on Human Rights (CSFHR), a human rights defenders platform in Odisha. So much so, that the human rights defender received a threatening call June 2 2017,from a man who accused him of being an agent of Pakistan and of terrorism and said he would be killed “soon” for filing a complaint against an Indian Army officer to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
Earlier, Akhand filed a complaint with NHRC citing an incident in which Army personnel in Kashmir tied a man to a vehicle and drove him around as a human shield against stone-pelting protesters April 9, 2017.
NHRC asked the Defence Secretary to submit a report about the incident after a video of Farooq Ahmed Dar, who the Indian Army said was one of those pelting stones at the convoy in Budgam district, tied to the front of the vehicle went viral and caused a national controversy.
Akhand had sought NHRC’s intervention, terming the incident a “gross violation of human rights”.
In another case, Akhand alleged that Bijay Kumar Guin, S/o Shri Hari Guin, R/o Village Devipatna under Niali PS, District Cuttack is languishing in jail for no fault of his.
The Commission took cognizance and called for the reports. From the reports it was seen that judicial magistrate first Class, Nimapada issued warrants of arrest of one Bijay Kumar Guin @ Babulla, S/o Shri Dhani @ Hani Guin, R/o Village Devipatna under Niali PS, District Cuttack.
It was a classic case of mistaken identity as Hari Guin’s son Bijay was not the culprit but Hani Guin’s son who committed the crime.
Needless to say, the commission quashed the court’s order and directed the police to apprehend the real culprit and produce him before the magistrate.
The Commission found that there was an illegal arrest and detention and an innocent person was made to put in confinement for over a period of 38 days and his human rights were violated, therefore, he should be compensated. Accordingly, the Chief Secretary, Govt. of Odisha was directed to show cause as to why a monetary relief of Rs. 50,000/- should not be recommended to be paid to the victim.
Speaking on a case he had taken up that almost changed a system, Akhand says, “My petition against Indian Railways is a celebrated case because it had impacted the system. My petition with NHRC stated that railway toilets contributed to the growing cases of open defecation as faeces is thrown on the tracks. Responding to the petition, Railway authorities made it clear that the ministry had plans in place to eliminate direct discharge type toilet systems from its entire fleet of passenger coaches by March 31, 2022.”
Rashmi Rekha Das, OP
