73rd Issue

(A Monthly Publication of Manavadhikar Samajik Manch)

Volume VII No.4 April 2010

Rs. 10/-

Patron : Sandeep Dikshit, MP (Lok Sabha)Advisors: Bejon Mishra

Manoj Kar

UP ChapterDr. Narendra Kumar, State Convenor6/348, Ramnath Deoria, Deoria - 274001Uttar Pradesh - 274001Phone :0-9415320183

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Human Touch(A Monthly Publication of Manavadhikar Samajik Manch)

Human Touch is a platform for non-partisan portrayal of human rights issues in their different forms. Be it therights of the weaker sections of our population such as the women, the children, the aged and the physicallychallenged, or the victims of some social customs, cultural traditions and economic & non-economic policies, thepublication brings out the issues objectively and in a manner that would give succour to the people whose rightsare either violated or put in jeopardy.

Human Touch acts as a forum for scholars, activists, concerned individuals and the common men & womento ventilate their grievances, express their views and to highlight cases of human rights violations, so thatappropriate ameliorative actions can be taken by the concerned agencies. It is meant to help the helpless andto speak for those whose voices are not heard. It engages in constructive and incisive debate on issues thatare not only of day-to-day concern but also on issues that are important for posterity. This publication is a stepforward in realising the vision of Manavadhikar Samajik Manch, i.e. creation of a just and equitablesociety.

President : Dr. A. Shanker

Editor : Dr. Girija B. Nanda

Editorial Team : Tapaj MishraKamal Kumar GaurPriyadarshi Ashok MishraDr. Virender Khatana

Reporters : Maheswar SinghSwarup Panigrahi

Office Assistant : Ganesh Das

Legal Advisor : Ms. Kumud L. DasJitendra Mahapatra

Graphic Designer : S.K. Nayak

Cover Design : Srimoy Patra

Content & DesignConsultant : Srimoy Patra

Edited, Printed andPublished by : Dr. Girija B. Nanda

OHCHR’s Damning Silence: 5Needs a New Approach to Speak

Section 498A of Indian Penal Code: 7A Legal Terrorism

National News 13

News from the National Human Rights Commission 15

International News 21

Slums In Metropolis: 25The Bane of Urban India

Obama’s Health Bill: 27Is It A Victory for Capitalism?

Curing the Ills of India : 28Need for Basic Comprehensive Social Security for All

Appeal: 32An 18-year-old boy is Abducted and Murdered in Manipur

In this issue...

4V ol. V II No. 4 April 2010

Law enforcement agencies in India have recently banned narco-analysis, brain mapping, or lie detectortests. In a recent judgment the Supreme Court said "No individual can be forced and subjected to suchtechniques involuntarily". Further the Supreme Court said it amounts to unwarranted intrusion of personalliberty. For truth drug tests, chemicals are injected into suspects or witnesses, lulling them into a semi-conscious state during which they are questioned. Information gained through such methods is alreadyinadmissible in Indian courts, but the recent ruling stated that leads extracted from suspects cannot bepursued. In holding that the forcible use of these tests is unconstitutional, the Supreme Court of India hasdrawn attention to the inherent violence in such investigative procedures, which constitute a gross abuse ofhuman rights. Many experts also opined that it is medically not advisable as well. There may not be the riskof death to a person undergoing a narco-analysis test but there is the possibility of complications arisingduring the process.

The judgement, which followed complaints from several accused, was welcomed by many lawyers andlawyers group who said it "protected the constitutional right of personal liberty". The landmark 251-pagejudgment arrives at two broad legal conclusions. First, such coercive testing violates Article 20 (3) of theConstitution, which stipulates “no person accused of an offence shall stand witness against himself.” Sec-ondly, it is an infringement of the right to personal liberty as understood in the context of Article 21, inparticular the right to privacy, the right to a free trial, and the right against cruel, inhuman or degradingtreatment.

The court has made it clear that nobody can be compelled to undergo such tests and that any statementsmade during those procedures are not admissible as evidence. Such tests are permissible only when takenvoluntarily. But even in such cases, they must be conducted in strict compliance with the National HumanRights Commission's Guidelines for the Administration of the Polygraph Test — which includes safeguardssuch as the mandatory recording of consent before a magistrate and the conduct of all tests by an independ-ent agency.

Now that the Supreme Court has banned these tests, the police ought to change its colonial mindset andshow greater respect for human rights and human dignity. It is common knowledge how the accused aretortured these days, sometimes resulting in custodial deaths. Undoubtedly, the apex court ruling is certain toensure a fair trial for any individual, but agencies like the CBI ought to deploy more humane methods ofinvestigation to ferret out the truth and bring the guilty to book.

F rom the President’s Desk …F rom the President’s Desk …F rom the President’s Desk …F rom the President’s Desk …F rom the President’s Desk …

Dr. A. Shanker


OHCHR’s Damning Silence:

T he Office of the United NationsHigh Commissioner for HumanRights (OHCHR) is facing a cri-

sis of its own making. In its website,the OHCHR states “As the principalUnited Nations office mandated to pro-mote and protect human rights for all,the OHCHR leads global human rightsefforts speaks out objectively in theface of human rights violations world-wide”. Instead of speaking out, it hasshown a preference for silence.

The position of the OHCHR sits un-easily with that of the UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki Moon who once againreiterated on 9 March 2010 his inten-sion to establish an expert panel to ad-vise him on “setting the broad param-eters and standards on the way aheadon establishing accountability” for al-leged human rights violations in SriLanka during the conflict between thegovernment forces and the LiberationTigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Thisis welcome.

In contrast, the UN High Com-missioner for Human Rights,Navanethem Pillay has failed toadequately address grave humanrights violations in Sri Lanka,not least in the final days of thewar with the LTTE. While Spe-cial Procedures mandate hold-ers issued various statements,High Commissioner Navi Pillayissued only one statement on13th March 2009 but said noth-ing more until the end of thewar on 19 May 2009 whenworst violations of internationalhuman rights law and interna-tional humanitarian law tookplace. Her statement on 4

March 2010 at the ongoing 13th ses-sion of the UN Human Rights Councilthat “Sri Lanka should undertake a fullreckoning of the grave violations com-mitted by all sides during the war” wastoo little, too late. The High Commis-sioner has also said nothing on the de-tention of quarter of a million internallydisplaced persons by the Sri Lankanauthorities and persecution of journal-ists and human rights defenders in that

country even after the end of the war.The mandate of the Representative ofthe United Nations Secretary-Generalon the Human Rights of Internally Dis-placed Persons, Walter Kaelin, whohighlighted the conditions of the IDPsat the end of a three-day return visit toSri Lanka on 29 September 2009 isdifferent.

Stunningly, the Office of the UN HighCommissioner for Human Rights failedto condemn the coup d’etat in Nigerby the military led by Major AdamuHaruna on 19 February 2010. TheAfrican Union condemned the coupand the Economic Community of WestAfrican States suspended Niger on theground that it had "zero tolerance" forany unconstitutional changes of gov-ernment.

The failure to condemn the coup d'etatin Niger is not an isolated event. WhenGeneral Sonthi Boonyaratglin oustedThaksin Shinawatra's government, putmost Cabinet Ministers under incom-municado detention and formed “Ad-ministrative Reform Council” in abloodless coup in Thailand on 19 Sep-tember 2006, the then High Commis-sioner for Human Rights Louise Ar-bour failed to condemn the coup.

It might not be a mere coincidencethat after the Asian Centre for Human

Rights issued a press statementon 22 September 2006 casti-gating the High Commissionerfor its failure to condemn thecoup that the OHCHR issueda statement on 25 September2006 stating that “The forci-ble and unconstitutional re-placement of Thailand’sfreely-elected Government on19 September, the establish-ment of martial law, the aboli-tion of the 1997 Constitution,the dissolution of Parliamentand the Cabinet as well as thedisbanding of the Constitu-tional Court, have raised im-portant human rights con-cerns”.

Needs a New Approach to Speak- Suhas Chakma


When the Director of the Asian Cen-tre for Human Rights subsequently metthe officials of the OHCHR in Geneva,he was told that the OHCHR was veri-fying facts from the regional office inBangkok and therefore could not ex-press its concerns earlier. This wasdespite that national and internationalmedia had already televised the deploy-ment of the tanks on the desertedstreets of Bangkok after the militarytakeover.

The recent killings of indigenous tribalpeoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts(CHTs) of Bangladesh that began on19 February 2010 expose this worry-ing trend of the OHCHR.

The killings have very negative impli-cations for the peace process. The vio-lence was the worst violence since thesigning of the Chittagong Hill TractsPeace Accord of 1997 with the insur-gent Parbattya Chattagram JanaSamhati Samiti, and the violence hasthe potential to undermine the PeaceAccord or worse see a return to vio-lent conflicts. Clearly both the killingsand a return to conflict have seriousimplications for human rights enjoy-ment.

The UN Secretary General Ban KiMoon found the killings in the CHTssufficiently important to express con-cern. Catherine Ashton, High Repre-sentative of the European Union forForeign Affairs and Security Policy,and Vice President of the EuropeanCommission was equally concerned,stating on 26th February: “The EU isaware of allegations that the incidentinvolved army personnel and labour-ers employed by the army” and calledupon the Government of Bangladesh“to ensure that the perpetrators of theseshameful acts are brought to justice.”The OHCHR said nothing.

Why does “commission” of humanrights violations in the CHTs by theBangladeshi security forces in leaguewith the illegal plain settlers merit theattention of the UN Secretary Generaland the EU High Representative onForeign Affairs, but not the OHCHR?The High Commissioner’s statementon the latest massacre of hundreds ofvillagers in the sectarian violencearound Jos in northern Nigeria whichappears to be a clear case of “omis-sion” on the part of the Governmentof Nigeria is welcome but not suffi-cient to address its damning silence on

grave human rights violations acrossthe world.

UN High Commissioner for HumanRights, Navi Pillay must develop newapproaches to enable the High Com-missioner to be in a position to respondto the grave human rights violations inthe world. Nobody is suggesting thatthe OHCHR should respond like anNGO. But it does not speak well ofthe High Commissioner or the OHCHRwhen regional inter-governmental or-ganisations and international commu-nity condemn certain grave humanrights violations or coup d’etat and theHigh Commissioner/OHCHR maintainsits damning silence. The High Com-missioner must be seen to be leadingthe international agenda on humanrights issues and add a voice, amongothers, to that of the UN SecretaryGeneral.

The UN General Assembly resolution60/251 establishing the UN HumanRights Council provides that “the Coun-cil shall review its work and function-ing five years after its establishmentand report to the General Assembly”.

Many ideas for the review to be heldin 2011 are already floating around.The ideas, amongst others, include theestablishment of an Office of the Presi-dent of the Human Rights Council andfurther to make the OHCHR just an-other UN agency. The prospect of theOHCHR turning into a UNDP typeagency - with its mandate of engage-ment with the government at any price- is a troubling thought. Irrespectiveof the ideas floating around on the re-view of the Human Rights Council,Navi Pillay must take the leadershipbefore it is too late.

(The author is the Director, AsianCentre for Human Rights. The

article is sourced fromwww.achrweb.org)


Section 498A of Indian Penal Code:

T he Criminal Law system as suchdeals directly with the life andliberty of individuals. The legal

framework to deal with crime need totake special care to maintain a fair bal-ance between the effective implemen-tation of the penal sanctions, whereverrequired and at the same time to pro-tect the human dignity and providesafeguards to the innocent. Since thelaws dealing with Section 498A needsto be stringent therefore, obligation toprotect the innocent becomes more im-portant.

Women have traditionally been victimsof patriarchal interests and social in-equities. All along, words such asdowry, harassment and victim pointedonly to one gender; female. Laws havebeen formed in this respect keepingwomen’s protection in mind. But whowould have thought the day wouldcome when some vested interest indi-viduals will turn and use these verylaws to torment men?

The researcher will cover Section 498Aof the Indian Penal Code relating tocriminal law in which the wife and herfamily can charge any or all of thehusband’s family of physical or men-tal cruelty. This law is unique to Indiaas it not only discriminates based ongender [man v. woman] but also dis-criminates against women based ontheir relationship with the husband.Typically, the charged family membersin these cases include:

• Mostly women of all ages [un-married, married and pregnantsisters of husband, his motherand sisters-in-law, elderlygrandmothers and aunts].

• Other maternal and paternalrelatives and even young chil-dren in the family.

The Indian Penal Code, 1860 wasamended in the year 1983 to includethe provisions of Section 498A whichdeals with the punishment of the hus-band and his relatives if a marriedwomen is subjected to cruelty whichis likely to drive a woman to commitsuicide or cause grave physical ormental injury to her, and harassmentwith a view to coercing her or any ofher relatives to meet any unlawful de-mands of property. The offence is cog-nizable, non-bailable and non-com-poundable. Hence, once a complaintis lodged on the above mentionedgrounds, the accused has a lot to bearbefore he can be given a clean chit.With the rise in modernization, educa-tion, financial security and the newfound independence the radical femi-nist has made Section 498A a weaponin their hands. Many a hapless hus-bands and in-laws have become vic-tims of their vengeful daughter-in-laws. Most cases, where Section 498Ais invoked turn out to false (as repeat-edly accepted by High Courts and Su-

preme Court in India) as they are mereblackmail attempts by the wife [or herclose relatives] when faced with astrained marriage. The non-bailabilityprovision is grossly misused by un-scrupulous wives who file false com-plaints against unsuspecting husbandsand her in-laws. The police in suchcases register FIR and forward thecharge sheet without proper investi-gation in most of the cases. A lot ofmen have had their lives ruined becauseof this drastic section.

Let us look into the bare Act of theSection 498A which states that, “who-ever being the husband or relative ofthe husband of woman, subjects suchwoman to cruelty shall be punishedwith the imprisonment for a termwhich may extend to three years andalso be liable to fine”.

ExplanationFor the purpose of this Section, “cru-elty” means:

(a) Any wilful conduct which is ofsuch a nature as is likely to drivethe woman to commit suicideor to cause grave injury or dan-ger of life, limb or health(whether mental or physical) ofthe woman; or

(b)Harassment of woman wheresuch harassment is with a viewto coercing her or any personrelated to her to meet any un-lawful demand for any propertyor valuable security or is on ac-

- Moamil HassanA Legal Terrorism

You [should] not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered,but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harm it would cause if improperly administered.

- Lyndon B. Johnson


count of failure by her or anyperson related to her to meetsuch demand.

Section 498A of Indian Penal Code:This Section is non-bailable (the ac-cused must appear in the Court to re-quest bail), non-compoundable (thecomplaint cannot be withdrawn by thepetitioner) and cognizable (the accusedcan be arrested and jailed without war-rant or investigation).

The accused are presumed guilty, andfor all practical purposes, the burdenis on the accused to proveinnocence in the courts. TheFIR is typically an imaginarystory, running into manypages, with absolutely no sup-porting evidence. It takesabout 7 to 8 years for the ac-cused to prove their inno-cence in the courts. The de-lay in the provision of justiceamounts to the denial of jus-tice. There is no penalty forthe misuse of this section498a,and after acquittal of theaccused, the courts are reluc-tant to entertain defamationand perjury cases against the falselytestifying witnesses.

By the same Act (Criminal LawAmendment Act, 1983) (Act 46 of1983), Section 113-A has been addedto the Indian Evidence Act, to raise pre-sumption regarding abetment of sui-cide by married women which readsas follows:

Section 113-A, presumption as thedowry death:When the question is whether a per-son has committed the dowry deathof a woman and it is shown that soonbefore her death such woman has beensubjected by such person to crueltyor harassment for,or in connectionwith, any demand for dowry, the Court

shall presume that such person hadcaused the dowry death.

ExplanationFor the purpose of this Section ‘dowrydeath’ shall have the same meaning asin Section 304-B of the Indian PenalCode (45 of 1860) under Section 498Aof Indian Penal Code, cruelty by itselfamounts to an offence whereas underSection 304B, the offence is of dowrydeath and the death must have occurredduring the course of seven years ofmarriage. But no such period is men-tioned in Section 498A.

Why Section 498A of Indian PenalCode is misused by people:

• Legal extortion: Get-rich-quick-scheme to extort large amountsof money.

• Prior Relationship: Wife has aprior relationship, and cannot getout of it. She marries to satisfyher parents, and then misusesthe Section 498A in order toobtain a divorce.

• Adultery: Women who indulgein adultery use Section 498A asa bargaining tool.

• Domination: Wife wants thehusband to abandon his parentsand siblings, and have total con-trol over his finances and socialbehaviour.

• Custody: Deny the father andhis family access to their child(ren).

• Fraudulent Marriages: In whichthe bride (and her family) hidesher education and when justifi-ably asked to release the personwho has gone into marriagewithout knowing the full facts;she files a false Section 498Acase.

• The kind of women who arelikely to file false 498A caseshave certain typical traits:* Who is suffering from pre-

existing mental problems suchas Borderline personality dis-order, Bipolar Disorder etc.;

*Whose family is nouveauriche and likes, ostentatiousdisplay of wealth, posses-sions as well as social andpolitical connections;

*Who is used to living beyondher means;

*Who listens to and acts inaccordance with her par-ents’ wishes at all times,exhibiting a lack of individu-ality and discretion in deal-ing with her married life;

* Who pushes for quick in-volvement during the estab-lishment of marriage alli-ance, pressing the man andhis family for an instantane-ous commitment;

* Who is excessively posses-sive and suspicious;

* Who is self-centred and feelsthe need to dominate the re-lationship and every aspectof decision making;

* Who tries to alienate her hus-band from his family andfriends;

* Who is hypersensitive andtherefore easily insulted;

* Who indulges in verbalabuse and constant criticismof her husband and in-laws.


Judicial ResponseMisuse of Section 498A has also beencalled as “Legal Terrorism” by theSupreme Court of India. Many in-stances have come to light where thecomplaints are not bonafide and havebeen filed with oblique motive.

• In Kanaraj v. State of Punjab,the apex Court observed as:“for the fault of the husband,the in-laws or other relativescannot in all cases be held to beinvolved. The acts attributed tosuch persons have to be provedbeyond reasonable doubt andthey cannot be heldresponsible bymere conjecturesand implications.The tendency torope in relatives ofthe husband as ac-cused has to becurbed”.

• In State v. Srikanth,the Karnataka HighCourt observed as:“Roping in of thewhole of the fam-ily including broth-ers and sisters-in-law has to be depre-ciated unless thereis a specific mate-rial against thesepersons, it is downright on the part of the police toinclude the whole of the familyas accused”.

• In Mohd Hassan v. State ofA.P., the Supreme Court ob-served as:“Whether one spouse has beenguilt of cruelty to the other isessentially a question of fact.The impact of complaints, ac-cusation or taunts on a personamounting to cruelty dependson various factors like the sen-sitivity of the victim concerned,the social background, the en-

vironment, education etc. Fur-ther, mental cruelty varies fromperson to person depending onthe intensity of the sensitivity,degree of courage and endur-ance to withstand such cruelty.Each case has to be decided onits own facts whether mentalcruelty is made out”.

• In Savitri Devi v. RameshChand, the Delhi High Courtobserved as:“These provisions were thoughmade with good intentions butthe implementation has left a

very bad taste and the move hasbeen counter productive. Thereis a growing tendency amongstthe women which is further per-petuated by their parents andrelatives to rope in each andevery relative including minorsand even school going kidsnearer or distant relatives and insome case against every personof family of the husbandwhether living away or in othertown or abroad and married,unmarried, sisters, sister-in-law,unmarried brothers, married

uncles and in some cases, grandparents or as many as 10 or 15or even more relatives of thehusband”.

• In Bhupinder Kaur and Othersv. State of Punjab and Others,the Punjab and Haryana HighCourt observed as:“From the reading of the FIR,it is evident, that there is no spe-cific the guilty and protect theinnocent. There is no scope forany pre-conceived notion orview. It is strenuously argued

by the petitioner that theinvestigating agencies andthe courts start with thepresumptions that the ac-cused persons are guiltyand that the complainantis speaking the truth. Thisis too wide available andgeneralized statement.Certain statutory pre-sumptions are drawnwhich again arerebuttable. It is to be notedthat the role of the inves-tigating agencies and thecourts is that of watchdogand not of a bloodhound.Itshould be their effort tosee that an innocent per-son is not made to sufferon account of

unfounded,baseless and mali-cious allegations.It is equallyundisputable that in many casesno direct evidence is availableand the courts have to act oncircumstantial evidence. Whiledealing with such cases, the lawlaid down relating to circum-stantial evidence has to be keptin view”.

Justice Malimath Committee on Re-forms of Criminal Justice System,Government of India, Ministry ofHome Affairs, 2003 observed the fol-


lowing and gave recommendation toamend the law immediately:

“16.4.4, In less tolerant impulsivewoman may lodge an FIR even ontrivial act. The result is that the hus-band and his family may be immedi-ately arrested and there may be a sus-pension or loss of job. The offencealleged being non-bailable, innocentpersons languish in custody. Theremay be a claim for maintenance add-ing fuel to fire, if the hus-band cannot pay. She maychange her mind and get intothe mood to forget and for-give. The husband may re-alize that mistakes commit-ted and come forward toturn a new leaf for a lovingand cordial relationship. Thewoman may like to seekreconciliation. But this maynot be possible due to thelegal obstacles. Even if shewishes to make amends bywithdrawing the complaint,she can not do so as the of-fence is non-compoundable.The doors for returning the family lifestand close. She is thus left at themercy of her natal family.

16.4.5, This Section, therefore, helpsneither the wife nor the husband. Theoffence being non-bailable and non-compoundable makes an innocent per-son undergo stigmatization and hard-ship. Heartless provisions that make theoffence non-bailable and non-com-poundable operate against reconcilia-tions. It is therefore, necessary to makethis offence (a) bailable and, (b) com-poundable to give a chance to thespouses to come together.

(118) The code may be suitablyamended to make the offence underSection 498A of the Indian Penal Code,bailable and compoundable”.

The Apex Court has also commentedon the possible misuse of this provi-sion in a number of cases. Right to lifeand liberty of every citizen is guaran-teed under Article 21 of the Constitu-tion of India. But this life and libertycan be curtailed if they hinder others’life and liberty. For that due processof law is necessary. While civil lawdetermines what is right and what iswrong, the criminal law imposes pen-alty to deter.

Role of MediaToday every husband is labelled a tor-turer and the mother-in-law a demon.A fair amount of blame for this restson the media which, with a view tosensationalize the ‘story’ blows thenews of ‘harassment’ or ‘torture’ ofmarried women out of proportions,without properly investigating the ve-racity of the story. The news of al-leged ‘torture, harassment and misap-propriation of stridhan’ of wife by ‘A’was published prominently by a lead-ing city newspaper, accusing severalmembers of his family torturing her.The concerned reporter never botheredto verify the allegations with the hus-band of ‘A’. As the news carried hisfull name and those of his relatives,designation and the organization where

he was working, it caused irreparabledamage to the entire family’s image andhard-earned reputation in almost everycircle they moved. Queries startedpouring in following this news. De-press as he was, ‘A’ immediately reg-istered his protest with the editor. Thenewspaper did publish his rejoinder, butafter a long time gap and without anyapology for publishing an unverifiedreport. One wonders where this grow-ing tendency of misusing the useful

laws by unscrupulous par-ties is leading the society.Harassing and victimizingwomen for dowry is con-demnable. We all have sis-ters and daughters, and un-doubtedly they require legalprotection from all forms ofharassment and cruelty butwhat if the legal loopholesof this very law are mis-used by women to harasstheir husbands and in-laws?

The courts have expresseddeep anguish over this law.Here are some recent judi-

cial observations:

Way back in Jasbir Kaur v. State ofHaryana, the Punjab and Haryana HighCourt observed:

“It is known that an estranged wifewill go to any extent to rope in as manyrelatives of the husband as possible ina desperate effort to salvage jeopard-izes around a dozen innocent personswhether they are children or old.Hence, the provision is discriminatoryand in violation to the Article 14 of theConstitution of India”.

Instead of restoring equilibrium, theprovision aggravates disequilibria.Hence, it is not only imbalanced butalso there is a failure of guarantee ofright to life under Article 21 of the


Constitution of India. The provision isnot only imbalanced but also ultravires.The provision needs to be amended atthe earliest to protect the life and lib-erty of millions of innocent people in-cluding children and old. The provi-sion is intended to be used as a shieldand not as an assassin’s weapon. Ifcry of “wolf” is made too often as aprank assistance and protection maynot be available when the actual “wolf”appears. There is no question of in-vestigating agency and courts casuallydealing with the allegations. They can-not follow any strait jacket formula inthe matters relating to dowry, tortures,deaths and cruelty. It cannot be lostsight of that ultimateobjective of every le-gal system is to arriveat truth, punish theguilty and protect theinnocent. It is to benoted that the role ofinvestigating agenciesand the courts is thatof watch dog and notof a bloodhound. Itshould be their effortto see that an inno-cent person is notmade to suffer or ac-count of unfolded,baseless andmahcious allegations.

Possible Alterations in the PresentSystem and the Law

1. Role of Women NGOs:These organization should in-vestigate complaint properlywithout any bias towards thewoman keeping in mind that thelaw is being misused largely toharass more women in hus-band’s family. They should notencourage any woman to file acriminal case against her in-lawsfor trivial matters. Foreignwomen organizations shouldalso take responsibility of not

allowing false complaint to beregistered against NRI’s just toharass and extort huge amountof money from them. These or-ganizations should also conductsurvey/research on the misuseof the act and should educatepeople about its consequences.If these organizations are foundto be assisting in filing falsecomplaints, then they should bemade liable for prosecution inthe country where they arefunctioning.

2. Family Counseling CentresNumerous cases of men beingharassed by wife or/and in-laws

have come to light from differ-ent parts of the country. As ofnow, there is no organization,which can really help these har-assed men and his family mem-bers, to listen their side of thestory and put their point of viewin front of the government.Need of the hour is to createfamily counselling centresacross the country to help thoseaggrieved families.

3. Time Bound Investigation andTrialA speedy trial of Section 498(a)cases will not only ensure jus-

tice for the innocents that havebeen implicated in false charges,it will also lead to promptredressal of the grievances ofreal dowry victims. The reduc-tion in false cases will also re-duce the burden on judiciary andexpedite the processing of realcases.

4. Definition of Mental CrueltyMental cruelty has been vaguelydefined in the act, which leavesscope of misuse. This shouldbe clearly elaborated to removeloopholes in the law. Thereshould be provision for menalso to file a case for mental cru-

elty by his wife.5. Bailable

The main reasonof Section 498A be-ing misused to harassinnocent is its non-bailable nature. ThisSection should bemade bailable to pre-vent innocent old par-ents, pregnant sistersand school going chil-dren from languishingin custody for weekswithout any fault ofthem.6. Compoundable

Once FIR hasbeen registered, it becomes im-possible to withdraw the caseeven if wife realizes that she hasdone a blunder and wants tocome back to her matrimonialhome. To save institution ofmarriage, this should be madecompoundable. Moreover, in thescenario, where the couple de-cides to end the marriage bymutual divorce, continuation ofcriminal proceedings hampertheir life.

7. Arrest WarrantsArrest warrants should be is-sued only against the main ac-


cused and only after cognizancehas been taken. Husband fam-ily members should not be ar-rested.

8. Penalty for making false accu-sationWhenever any Court comes tothe conclusion that the allega-tions made regarding commis-sion of offence under Section498A Indian Penal Code areunfound, stringent action shouldbe taken against persons mak-ing the allegations. This woulddiscourage persons from com-ing to courts with unclean handsand ulterior motives. Criminalcharges should be broughtagainst all authorities that arecollaborating with falsely accus-ing women and their parentalfamilies.

9. Court ProceedingsPhysical appearance of the ac-cused on hearing should bewaved or kept low to avoid has-sles in appearing to the Court,especially for NRIs. The Courtshould not ask to surrenderpassport of the husband and hisfamily which could cost job ofthe husband and his familymembers.

10.Registration of Marriage andGifts ExchangedThe registration of marriagesshould be made compulsoryalong with the requirement thatthe couple make a joint decla-ration regarding the gifts ex-changed during marriage.

11.Punish Dowry GiversIf the complainant admits giv-ing dowry in the complaint, thecourts should take cognizanceof the same and initiate pro-ceedings against them under therelevant sections of the DowryProhibition Act.

12.Penalise Corrupt InvestigationOfficers

If it is apparent to the Court thata fair investigation has not beenconducted by the investigationofficer, and that the husbandand his family have beencharge-sheeted without properverification of the complaint,the investigation officer shouldbe penalized for gross negli-gence of duty.

13.Gender NeutralEveryone should have equalrights and responsibilities irre-spective of gender. In the cur-rent social context, there shouldbe similar laws to protect har-assed husband and his familymembers from an unscrupu-lous wife.

ConclusionAfter the entire study, we can concludethat though Section 498A of IndianPenal Code was originally designed toprotect married women from beingharassed or subjected to cruelty byhusbands and/or their relatives. Thislaw was mainly aimed at curbingdowry harassment. Unfortunately, thislaw has been misused to harass menand their families rather than protectgenuine female victims of harassment.The centre for Social Research Indiahas released a research report oppos-ing amendments to Section 498A. Ac-

cording to this report, in the studiedcases, there were no convictionsbased solely on Section 498A. Althoughthe report states that 6.5 percent ofthe studied cases were falsified. Theyalso state that many people believe thelaw has been abused by “educated andindependent minded women”.The lat-est addition in a womens’ legal artil-lery is The Protection of Women fromDomestic Violence Act-“This law isabsolutely pro-women and anti-men,this law assumes every man as atorturer” and considers only womenas victims.This law is highly vague andspeaks of verbal/economical andamp;emotional abuse,which are impos-sible to quantify and amp; ascertain.Many husbands and their familymembers,falsely implicated in thesecases have committed suicide afterbeing jailed, unable to bear the socialtrauma .Nearly,44.7% of the suicidevictims were married males,while only25% were married females(10).Thisclearly shows the ratio of victims ofdomestic violence and gender abuse.Itis time for law makers/law enforcingagencies/judges to pay heed and re-view these laws in public interest tocheck the growing misuse of theselaws to ensure impartial justice and toprotect the pious and sacred institu-tion of marriage. Henceforth, certainlegal actions should be taken at earli-est to curtail the growth of “legal ter-rorism”, by misuse of provisions oflaw.

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Equitable Societyhumanrights updates.


Indian Cabinet Approved For LawOn Torture

The union cabineton 8th April 2010approved a pro-posal to introduce a

legislation on prevention of torture.

The Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010,will be a step towards ratification of1975 UN treaty against torture, Infor-mation and Broadcasting MinisterAmbika Soni said.

India is a signatory to a conventionagainst torture and other cruel, inhu-man and degrading treatment or pun-ishment.

For ratification of convention, Indianeeds to bring a domestic law in tunewith the provision of the convention,the minister told reporters after thecabinet meet.

So far, the Indian Penal Code neitherdefines torture nor makes it criminalas called for by Article 4 of the con-vention.

'It is an affirmative positive action toprevent cruelty and degradation ofhuman life,' said the minister.

As the matter is related to the concur-rent list, the view of the state govern-ments had been sought, she added.

HC asked Nanavati Commissionto clarify stand on summoning

ModiThe GujaratHigh Court onMonday asked

National Human Rights Update

A single bench of Justice K S Jhaveridismissed JSM'spetition in Novemberlast year saying that the Commissionhas not completed its inquiry and stillhas power to summon Modi undersection 8(b) of Commissions of In-quiry Act.

The JSM then filed an appeal before adivision bench where it sought quash-ing of Commission's order and issu-ance of summons to Modi and threeothers for cross examination with re-gard to the 2002 riots.

The Nanavati Commission had lastmonth informed the High Court on thestatus of its inquiry. The Commissionin its letter had said that it had com-pleted analysis of all evidences col-lected and statements recorded andwas about to begin writing the report.The process of writing the report waslikely to take 3-4 months, it had said.The Commission stated that it hadprobed about 4,145 cases which tookplace between February 27, 2002 andMay 31, 2002. Modi was summonedby the Special Investigation Team ap-pointed by Supreme Court yesterdayin Gulburg society riot case but hefailed to appear before the team.

Tamil Nadu police arrestprotestors against Namal

Rajapkase’s arrival in ChennaiTamil Nadupolice arrestedten persons re-cently amonghundreds ofpeople who

had gathered at Chennai airport to pro-test against the arrival of Namal

the Nanavati Commission, probing the2002 riot cases, to clarify by April 1whether it will summon Gujarat ChiefMinister Narendra Modi in the matter.

A division bench of Chief Justice S JMukhopadhaya and Justice AkilKureshi sought this information fromthe government pleader while hearingan appeal by Jan Sangarsh Manch(JSM), an NGO representing the 2002riot victims.

When the matter came up for hearingtoday the court asked the governmentpleader to get clarification fromNanavati Commission by April 1 withregard to its order of September 2009,and inform the court whether its deci-sion not to summon Modi and otherswas a final decision or a tentative one.Nanavati Commission, in Septemberlast year had disposed of JSM's appli-cation asking for summoning of Modiand others saying that it did not findjustification in cross-examining themat that point of time for the purposestated by JSM. The Commission hadfurther stated in the order that allega-tions made in JSM's application werevague and based on wrong or unwar-ranted assumptions.

JSM had sought quashing of theNanavati Commission's order in theGujarat High Court and prayed thatModi and three others -- the then homeminister Gordhan Zadafia, health min-ister Ashok Bhat and DCP Zone 5, R JSavani-- be called for cross examina-tion with regard to the 2002 riots.


Rajapakse, the son of Sri Lanka Presi-dent Mahinda Rajapakse, passing viaChennai International Airport to watchthe cricket match between the Chennaiand Punjab teams, sources in Chennaisaid. Meanwhile, a group of fifty SriLankan police officers led by Superin-tendent of Police, L. R. Wijeyasinghe,who are to follow a three month coursein security services for Very Impor-tant Persons (VIPs) in a training cen-tre in Haryana state, arrived in Delhion recenltly, sources in Delhi said.

Members of various organizations in-cluding Periyaar ThiraavidaKazhakam in their hundreds had

gathered at the airport to demonstratetheir protest in the context of Lib-eration Tiger leader Mr. V.Pirapaharan’s mother being refusedentry into Tamil Nadu for medicaltreatment and sent back to Malay-sia, the sources added.

Meanwhile, Namal Rajapakse is re-ported to have reached Delhi fromwhere he will proceed to watch thecricket match between Chennai andPunjab.

Sri Lankan cricket players are playingfor the Punjab team, sources in TamilNadu said.

Mrs. Vallipuram Parvathi, the ailingmother of LTTE leader Mr. VelupillaiPirapaharan, was refused landing byIndian immigration officials at Chennaiairport Friday night around 11:30 p.m.Mrs. Parvathi, travelling from Malay-sia, was seeking medical treatment inIndia. She was sent back to Malaysiain the same flight. Tamil Nadu leadersNedumaran and Vaiko were at the air-port and they were later joined by themembers of the VCK party ofThirumavalavan. According to mediasources citing immigration officials,Mrs. Parvathi is considered by Indiaas a threat to law and order situationin the country. (Source: TamilNet)

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NHRC Asked Centre To PayCompensation

The NationalHuman RightsCommission hasasked the Ministryof Defence,Government ofIndia to pay acompensation ofRs.50,000 each to

two residents of Assam who werecaught and allegedly tortured by Armypersonnel last year on suspicion thatthey had links with ULFA.

The Commission also asked the UnionDefence Secretary to submit acompliance report along with proof ofpayment of the compensation withinsix weeks.

Personnel of Maibel Base Army Camphad caught Bhadrakanta Baruah andGhana Neog, both residents ofTokolimara village, and allegedly beatenthem up on January 31 last yearsuspecting them of having links withULFA militants. They were taken toan army camp where they wereallegedly assaulted. Baruah chargedthat he was administered electricshocks.

They were later handed over to thepolice for interrogation. They werereleased thereafter as nothingincriminating was found against them,the NHRC noted.

In its reply to the Commission's show-cause notice, the Defence Ministry saidthe two villagers were caught on thebasis of reliable intelligence inputssaying the duo had “harboured and

News From the National Human Rights Commission

provided food and shelter” to ULFAcadres on January 28.

The Ministry also claimed that duringquestioning Baruah and Neog hadaccepted that militants had stayed intheir houses on January 28 beforeproceeding to another village next daybut denied that Army men tortured themwhile questioning. – PTI

NHRC finds Ghaziabad a hub ofbrick kilns; out of 423 kilns morethan 100 found not paying proper

wages to the labourersThe NationalH u m a nR i g h t sCommissionhas found113 brick

kilns in District Ghaziabad, UttarPradesh not making payments to thelabourers as per the provisions of thepayment of Wages Act, 1936 andMinimum Wages Act, 1948, and hasasked the District Magistrate to takestrict action against the owners ofthese kilns.

This revelation about Ghaziabad beinga hub of brick kilns came followingthe report of the District Magistrate,Ghaziabad in compliance withCommission's directions to find out thenumber of brick kilns in his jurisdiction,and their status of affairs viz-à-vizpayments to the labourers, when theCommission found the inquiry reportsfactually incorrect as submitted by theDistrict Administration in a specificcase.

The Commission observed 'that theearlier reports submitted before theCommission were conducted in acasual manner and appear to have beenprepared in order to help the brick kilnowners.'

The labourers working in this Kiln wereneither released nor rehabilitated as perthe provisions of the Law, and packedback to their villages without being paideven their dues. But this is only a tipof an iceberg, as out of 423 brick kilnsin this area of major constructionactivity, the district administration isyet to inspect 310 brick kilns.

The Commission on the 12th April, 2010asked them to complete this job withinsix weeks, when they sought extensionof time till May, 2010 to do so. TheCommission has also asked the DistrictMagistrate, Ghaziabad to take strictaction against the brick kiln owners inthe district flouting the norms under thePayment of Wages Act 1936 andMinimum Wages Act, 1948.

This case was taken up by theCommission on a complaint dated 4thDecember, 2008. The complainantalleged that he along with his familymembers and fellow labourers were notbeing paid their complete salary bytheir employer and owner of Brick Kiln.The complainant said that when healong with other labourers demandedtheir dues, they were tortured by thebrick kiln owner and their staff, andthus they were forced to live as bondedlabourers in the brick kiln. He alsoalleged that seven children below 14years were also detained by the brickkiln owner and sought the interventionof the Commission in the matter.


The Commission directed the DistrictMagistrate, Ghaziabad on the 17thDecember, 2008 to conduct an inquiryat the spot for identification of bondedlabour, if any. It also asked forimmediate steps for the release of anybonded labour.

The report submitted by the DistrictMagistrate stated that the brick kilnwas non functional and no labourerwas found there. However, whenthe Commission asked thecomplainant for his comments onthe report, he said that the officerin-charge OP-Pipel ine Pol iceStation, Muradnagar got released allthe labourers from br ick ki lnwithout taking any action againstthe owner. They were also not paidtheir pending dues.

Thereafter, the Commission askedthe District Magistrate to conductan inquiry and also appear inperson on the 2nd February, 2010when another inqui ry repor tsubmitted by him was not foundsatisfactory.

The District Magistrate was askedto personally initiate action againstthe violators of Labour Laws;conduct surprise inspection; preparelist of all the brick kilns in DistrictGhaziabad, and inform whether thelabourers are being paid as per thenorms or not.

A detailed report submitted by theDistrict Magistrate on the 10th March,2010 said that the police had taken Ex-Party action. He informed that in thematter relating to the 113 brick kilns,charge-sheets has been submittedagainst 24 brick kiln owners in thecourt of Chief Judicial Magistrate,Ghaziabad. In 30 cases, notices havebeen issued for compounding theoffence.

NHRC condemns killing of morethan 70 CRPF personnel byNaxalites in Chhattisgarh

The National Human RightsCommission is disturbed by news ofthe killing of more than 70 CRPF anddistrict police personnel by theNaxalites in Dantewada district of theState of Chhattisgarh while dischargingtheir duties today on the 6th April, 2010and condemns the growing cult ofviolence being adopted by certainvested interests in the society.

The Commission is of the firm viewthat any movement or action in thename of struggle for the rights of thecitizens looses its legitimacy themoment it resorts to violence which isthe anti thesis of protection of humanrights.

The police and para-military forces arethe instruments of the State to enforcerule of law and order and thus protecthuman rights of the citizens. In thisprocess they are themselves exposedto high risks to their own lives as wellas their families. The Commissionacknowledges the vital role played bythe police and para-military forces inmaintaining the security of the State.It is expected that the state will takenote of the sacrifices made by thepersonnel of CRPF and the police inmaintaining the rule of law and creatingan environment of peace and securityfor the citizens of the country.

The Commission accordsparamountcy to the protection of the

human rights of all the citizens in thecountry. It needs no emphasis that theaggrieved family would be suitablycompensated.

NHRC holds HaryanaGovernment liable for paying

monetary relief of Rs. 3 lakhs toa lady victim of gang rape by the

State Police PersonnelSetting aside the claims and counterclaims of the Haryana Police and Policeadministration of Union Territory ofChandigarh as to who would pay themonetary relief to a lady victim of agang rape by the police personnel, theCommission finally recommended thatthe Government of Haryana pay rupeesthree lakhs to the victim.

In its proceedings on the 23rd March,2010, the Commission observed thatbased on the inquiry reports of theDirector General Police, Haryana, thecrime was committed by the Haryanapolice personnel, and therefore theGovernment of Haryana is liable tocompensate the victim.

The Commission took up the matterunder the case no. 3340/7/0/07-08-WCon the 28th February, 2008 in a suomotu cognizance of the media reportscarried on the 22nd February, 2008alleging that a 40 year old lady wasdragged out of an auto-rickshaw byHaryana Armed police personnelDinesh, in Sector-7, Chandigarh, just100 meters from the high securityHaryana and Punjab Raj Bhawans inthe early morning hours of the 21stFebruary, 2008. He took her to hisquarter where she was gang raped byhim, his guest Situ and CommandoBijender Singh.

The Commission sought the reportfrom DGP, Haryana in the matter. TheDGP, Haryana vide communicationdated 15th May, 2008 sent a reportwhich revealed that a case crime no.


36 u/s 341/342/376/506/323/34/IPCwas registered at police station Sector-3, Chandigarh against the culprits ofgang rape on the 21st February, 2008.A charge sheet in respect of FIR No.36 dated 21st February, 2008 u/s 376was already filed in the court atChandigarh, and the trial of the accusedpersons was in the progress.

Commando Bijender Singh wasarrested and sent to the judicialcustody. He was also suspended and adepartmental inquiry was initiatedagainst him. However, quotingstatement of the victim in FIR, it wassaid in the report that Bijender was notinvolved in her rape. Constable DineshKumar was dismissed from the serviceon 6th August, 2008 after found guiltyin a departmental inquiry in the matter.

After consideration of the reportsreceived from DGP, Haryana theCommission issued notice to theGovernment of Haryana to show causewhy monetary relief should not begiven to the victim. However, the DGP,Haryana informed the Commission thatthe matter pertained to the UnionTerritory of Chandigarh. Hence, ashow cause notice was issued to theAdministrator of UT of Chandigarh.

In response to this, the InspectorGeneral of Police, UT of Chandigarhsaid that the accused Constable wasthe employee of the HaryanaGovernment, hence, the liability for thepayment of monetary relief to thevictim lies with them. The Commissionfound the stand taken by theAdministration of UT of Chandigarhcorrect. Again a notice was issued tothe Government of Haryana. Inresponse the DGP, Haryana took thestand that since the crime took placewithin the jurisdiction of UT ofChandigarh, it is the liability ofChandigarh Administration tocompensate the victim of the crime.

The Commission observed that nopublic servant of UT of Chandigarhwas involved in the crime. TheGovernment of Haryana had also takendisciplinary action against the twopolice personnel Dinesh and Bijenderinvolved in the crime. Hence, theCommission recommended thatGovernment of Haryana pay monetaryrelief to the victim. It has also askedfor a compliance report along withproof of payment within six weeksafter the date of receipt from the ChiefSecretary of the State.

NHRC recommends Rs. 10 lakhsmonetary relief in a case of fake

encounter by Delhi Police

Setting aside the plea of the DelhiPolice that the case being sub-judiceno monetary relief should be awarded,the National Human RightsCommission recommended that theDelhi Government pay Rs. 5 lakhseach to the next of kin of MandeepSingh and Vicky alias Vivek killed in afake encounter by the city police.

The Commission in its order on the12th March, 2010 under the case no.1974/7/2002-2003-AD observed, 'Wefind no merit in the plea. Proceedingof the Commission are independent ofany other proceedings which may bepending at any other forum. Moreover,the issue to be decided in the criminaltrial may not necessarily be the sameas that before the Commission. Whilethe question before us is whetherMandeep Singh and Vicky @ Vivekwere deprived of life otherwise than

in accordance with the procedureestablished by law, the criminal trial willdetermine the culpable liability of theaccused. The recommendation formonetary relief need not wait till theconclusion of criminal trial.' TheCommission has also asked for acompliance report with proof ofpayment within eight weeks from thedate of receipt of its recommendations.

The encounter happened on theoutskirts of village Jharodakalan in theNational Capital on the 16th October,2002 and the Commission took up thecase on a complaint dated 2ndDecember, 2002 filed by Mr. Dayanandfather of Mandeep Singh.

He alleged that eight police officials ofDelhi Police in plain cloths came in theirprivate Maruti cars and arrested his sonMandeep and three other personsnamely, Vicky, Sandeep Malik andKrishan Gulia, from HanumanProperties, Vivekanand Vihar,Bahadurgarh and forcibly took themaway with an intention to kill them.And true to his apprehension, he allegedthat his son Mandeep and Vicky weremurdered by those police officials nearganda naala of village, Jharodakalan,Najafgarh.

In response to Commission's notice inthe case, the report of DeputyCommissioner of Police, Vigilance,Delhi Police dated 1st September, 2003said that both Mandeep and Vickywere criminals, and they were killedin cross firing which started wheninstead of surrendering to the policeparty they started firing at them.Krishan Gulia and Sandeep Malik wereover powered by the police party.

He also said that as per the directionsof the High Court, the case was beinginvestigated by the Central Bureau ofInvestigation. Subsequently, the DIG,CBI in his investigation report dated


28th September, 2005 intimated to theCommission that the claim of the DelhiPolice raiding party was found to befalse. It said that both Mandeep andVicky were killed in a fake encounter.The report also proposed prosecutionof the accused police officers underSection 120-B read with Section 364,302 of IPC and substantive officesthereof.

On the basis of this report, theCommission observed that prima facieit was a case of violation of victims'human rights and issued notice to theGovernment of NCT of Delhi to showcause why monetary relief should notbe given to the next of kin of Mandeepand Vicky. Not convinced by the reply,the Commission recommendedpayment of monetary relief.

NHRC indicts MaharashtraGovernment over its failure in

protecting people from violence byMNS; Recommends Rs. 10 lakhsmonetary relief to the victims of

violenceThe NationalHuman RightsCommissionsays, theMaharashtraGovernmentfailed to taketimely action

for the protection of citizens in thewake of hate campaign launchedagainst migrants by the MaharashtraNavnirman Sena activists in the State.While taking up the two specificincidents of violence, among others,unleashed by MNS activists causingdeath, injury and destruction ofproperty, the Commissionrecommended that the StateGovernment pay rupees five lakhseach to the next of kin of Vinod Singhand Amba Das who lost their lives inmob violence in Mumbai and adjoiningareas in Maharashtra.

Vinod Singh, a Security Guard in JindalCompany, lost his life in the violenceat Nasik. He was living in the companyworker's colony when it was attackedby MNS activists. Another personnamed Amba Das died following fatalinjury caused in stone pelting by ariotous mob on the bus carrying himand his colleagues of HAL. The buswas attacked in Rajyog MangalKaryalaya on Mumbai Nasik highway.Both the incidents happened on the 13thFebruary, 2008.

The Commission took up the matterin a suo motu cognizance of mediareports carried on the 14th & 15thFebruary, 2008, and issued notice onthe 18th February, 2008 to the ChiefSecretary, Maharashtra Governmentcalling for factual report about theincidents violence. Later on, theCommission also received complaintson the same issue of violence by MNSactivists against non Maharashtriansfrom Shri Amar Singh, Member ofParliament, Uttar Bhartiya ShramikElgar and Jai Hind Jhuggi JhopadiSangh, Mumbai. These were clubbedwith the case No. 2486/13/1/07/07-08already under process in theCommission.

In response to Commission's notice,the Government of Maharashtraconfirmed these two incidents ofviolence vide letter dated 21st April,2008. It also informed that FIRs wereduly registered in respect of both theincidents and some miscreants werearrested.

However, after considering the report,the Commission observed that the StateGovernment failed to explain as to whatpreventive measures it had taken toprotect the inhabitants of the workers'colony and to restrain the unruly peoplefrom gathering there. It also askeddetails of steps taken by theGovernment in the wake of MNS

agitation to protect the migrant peoplefrom the violence unleashed by theagitators.

In subsequent notices and directions,the Commission also asked the StateGovernment to report whether anyfinancial assistance had been given tothe families of Vinod Singh and AmbaDas; whether any compensation waspaid to those whose huts in theworkers' colony of Jindal Companywere set on fire.

The State Government informed theCommission through its letter dated15th September, 2009 that financialassistance of rupees one lakh each hadbeen given to the families of thedeceased persons. It also provided alist of persons who were givenfinancial assistance and compensationin cases of injury and damage to theproperty respectively.

The Commission, however, took theview that the amount of rupees one lakhwas grossly inadequate for the loss ofhuman life. A show cause notice was,therefore, issued on the 16th November,2009 to the Government of Maharashtra.It was called upon to explain why theCommission should not recommendpayment of rupees five lakhs each forthe families of the victims.

In response, the State Governmentsubmitted that financial assistance tothe victims of famine or communalriots or terrorist attacks is given inaccordance with the policy approvedvide the State Government order dated24th August, 2004, and such financialassistance cannot exceed rupees onelakh. It also pleaded that the State isnot in a position to provide monetaryrelief of rupees five lakhs as proposedby the Commission.

The Commission found no merit in theplea taken by the State Government.


The Commission on the 8th February,2010 re-iterated its observations in itsproceedings dated the 16th November,2009 that "a campaign for hatred hadbeen launched against non-Maharashtrians in the region and it wasthe constitutional duty of the StateGovernment to safeguard the lives ofthe migrant people. It is unfortunatethat the State Government did notmuster the political will to rein in thedivisive forces and failed to take timelyaction for the protection of citizens.The persons who lost their life werepoor labourers. Their families have lostbread earners and the Governmentcannot evade its liability to giveappropriate relief on the ground offinancial constraints."

The Commission said that the StateGovernment of Maharashtra paymonetary relief to the next of kin ofdeceased as recommended. It has alsoasked for compliance report with aproof of payment within eight weeks.

NHRC's review meeting onMental Health Care in Southern

Region

The National Human RightsCommission is holding SouthernRegion review meeting on MentalHealth held on 12th March, 2010 atY.W.C.A. in Chennai. It was organizedin collaboration with the Institute ofMental Health (IMH), Chennai. NHRCMember, Mr. P.C. Sharma inauguratedthe meeting. The States/UTs coveredin this review meeting includeKarnataka, Andhra Pradesh, TamilNadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Andaman& Nicobar and Lakshadweep. Duringthe meeting the points of discussionwere:

- Overall conditions in mentalhospitals;

- Status of implementation of

District mental healthprogramme;

- Status of proposals of mentalhospitals and District hospitalpending with State Governmentfor augmenting facilities as wellas granting permission to carryout teaching courses;

- Modified steps proposed.

NHRC Secretary General, Mr. K.S.Money addressed the participants.Important functionaries and otherstakeholders including representativesof the State health machinery alsoattended the meeting. The reviewmeeting is in continuation with NHRC'sinvolvement in monitoring of themental health care system in thecountry. In this connection,Commission has made a number ofrecommendations to all the concernedauthorities. The review meetings ofvarious States divided into five zonesof the country are being held in thiscontext. Prior to this, the reviewmeetings of mental health care systemin Eastern, Western and North-Easternzones have been held.

The Commission has observed thatthough the financial resources andinfrastructure of most hospitals haveimproved several areas of functioningand quality of mental health care stillremains critical.

NHRC asks Railway Board to payRs. 5 lakhs as monetary relief to

a severely injured boy, pushedfrom a train

The NationalHuman RightsCommission hasrecommendedthat the Railway

Board pay Rs. 5 lakhs as monetaryrelief to Master Samar Singh, aged 12years, who sustained severe injuriesand lost his right hand and leg whenhe was pushed from the Geetanjali

Express by a TTE, Navneet Mishra.The incident happened on the 2nd July,2008. The boy was serving voluntarilyas a sweeper on the train.A case under Section 341/337/338/307/325 IPC on FIR No. 76 againstthe TTE is already registered and hewas arrested on the 4th July, 2008. Acharge sheet against him has alreadybeen filed in the Court.

The Commission took up the matteron a complaint filed by Mr. RameshKumar Mandal which was registeredas a case no. 265/18/34/08-09. Keepingin view the facts and circumstancesof the matter, the Commission foundit a case of gross violation of humanrights of the victim and issued noticeto the Railway Board.

Having received no response from theRailway Board to its show cause noticedespite reminders, the Commissionpresumed that the Railway Board hasnothing to say against the notice.

Therefore, in its recommendatoryorder on the 5th March, 2010, theCommission observed that the callous,insensible and heartless act of thatTTE, Navneet Mishra, has madeMaster Samar Singh disabled for life.Keeping in view the life long misery ofthe victim, the Commissionrecommended that in addition to payingthe monetary relief amount, theRailway Board shall arrange to provideartificial limbs to the victim at its ownexpenses.

As the child is minor, the amount formonetary relief shall be deposited inhis name in a fixed deposit in anationalized bank with a facility towithdraw interest accrued thereonevery month. The Commission hasdirected the Secretary, Railway Boardto submit compliance report along withthe proof of payment within SixWeeks.


HC asks Nanavati Commission toclarify stand on summoning Modi

The GujaratHigh Courton Mondayasked theN a n a v a t iCommission,probing the

2002 riot cases, to clarify by April 1whether it will summon Gujarat ChiefMinister Narendra Modi in the matter.

A division bench of Chief Justice S JMukhopadhaya and Justice AkilKureshi sought this information fromthe government pleader while hearingan appeal by Jan Sangarsh Manch(JSM), an NGO representing the 2002riot victims.

When the matter came up for hearingtoday the court asked the governmentpleader to get clarification fromNanavati Commission by April 1 withregard to its order of September 2009,and inform the court whether itsdecision not to summon Modi andothers was a final decision or atentative one.

Nanavati Commission, in Septemberlast year had disposed of JSM'sapplication asking for summoning ofModi and others saying that it did notfind justification in cross-examiningthem at that point of time for thepurpose stated by JSM.

The Commission had further stated inthe order that allegations made in JSM'sapplication were vague and based onwrong or unwarranted assumptions.

JSM had sought quashing of theNanavati Commission's order in theGujarat High Court and prayed thatModi and three others -- the then homeminister Gordhan Zadafia, healthminister Ashok Bhat and DCP Zone 5,R J Savani-- be called for cross

examination with regard to the 2002riots.

A single bench of Justice K S Jhaveridismissed JSM'spetition in Novemberlast year saying that the Commissionhas not completed its inquiry and stillhas power to summon Modi undersection 8(b) of Commissions ofInquiry Act.

The JSM then filed an appeal before adivision bench where it soughtquashing of Commission's order andissuance of summons to Modi andthree others for cross examinationwith regard to the 2002 riots.

The Nanavati Commission had lastmonth informed the High Court on thestatus of its inquiry.

The Commission in its letter had saidthat it had completed analysis of allevidences collected and statementsrecorded and was about to beginwriting the report.

The process of writing the report waslikely to take 3-4 months, it had said.

The Commission stated that it hadprobed about 4,145 cases which tookplace between February 27, 2002 andMay 31, 2002.

Modi was summoned by the SpecialInvestigation Team appointed bySupreme Court yesterday in Gulburgsociety riot case but he failed to appearbefore the team.

Pay compensation for torture:NHRC Defence Secretary asked

to submit proof of payment withinsix weeks

New Delhi: TheNational HumanR i g h t sCommission hasasked the Centre

to pay a compensation of Rs.50,000each to two residents of Assam whowere caught and allegedly tortured byArmy personnel last year on suspicionthat they had links with ULFA.

The Commission also asked the UnionDefence Secretary to submit acompliance report along with proof ofpayment of the compensation withinsix weeks.

Personnel of Maibel Base Army Camphad caught Bhadrakanta Baruah andGhana Neog, both residents ofTokolimara village, and allegedly beatenthem up on January 31 last yearsuspecting them of having links withULFA militants. They were taken to anarmy camp where they were allegedlyassaulted. Baruah charged that he wasadministered electric shocks.

They were later handed over to thepolice for interrogation. They werereleased thereafter as nothingincriminating was found against them,the NHRC noted.

In its reply to the Commission's show-cause notice, the Defence Ministry saidthe two villagers were caught on thebasis of reliable intelligence inputssaying the duo had “harboured andprovided food and shelter” to ULFAcadres on January 28.

The Ministry also claimed that duringquestioning Baruah and Neog hadaccepted that militants had stayed intheir houses on January 28 beforeproceeding to another village next daybut denied that Army men tortured themwhile questioning. – PTI

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International Human Rights Update

UN welcomes verdict on caste-based discrimination in Nepal

The UnitedNations humanrights office inNepal on 20thMarch 2010

welcomed a key judgment handeddown in a case involving discriminationon the basis of caste, hailing it as animportant step forward in the fightagainst discrimination in the Asiannation.

Earlier this month, the District Courtin Baitadi, in western Nepal, found aman guilty of physically assaulting thefather of the groom during a weddingceremony in July 2009 for practicingrituals “reserved for high-castecommunities.” The accused wassentenced to one year in prison andfined 5,000 rupees.

In a similar case in January, the samecourt issued a verdict, sentencing themain perpetrator behind attacks against12 Dalits – or so-called “untouchables”– for not following discriminatoryrituals at a temple to two years inprison and a fine of 25,000 rupees.

In a joint statement issued by theOffice of the UN High Commissionerfor Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR-Nepal), the National Dalit Commission(NDC) and the National Human RightsCommission (NHRC), the threeorganizations said that the verdicts arein accordance with international law.They are also in line with article 14 ofNepal's Interim Constitution, whichsays that racial discrimination arepunishable and that victims are entitledto compensation, the statement said.

Referring to both the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights and theConvention on the Elimination of AllForms of Racial Discrimination, theBaitadi court stressed that“discrimination based on the principleof caste supremacy is? morallyunacceptable, socially unjust anddangerous.”

But the three organizations expressedtheir deep concern that the man foundguilty of assaulting the groom's father

last July has since been nominated fora public position in the Ministry ofPhysical Planning and Works inKanchanpur in western Nepal.

“The NDC, NHRC and OHCHR urgethe authorities to abide by the verdictregarding the above appointment, toenforce both sentences without delayand to undertake specific measures topromote social awareness on the issueof caste-base discrimination,”according to today's statement.

No room for racism at this year'ssoccer World Cup, UN chief says

Marking the50th anniversaryof the massacreof protesterstaking a peaceful

stand against apartheid in South Africa,Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon saidin 20 th March 2010 that there is “noroom for racist and xenophobic acts”at this summer's soccer World Cup inthe country, the first time the event willever be held in Africa.

The International Day for theElimination of Racial Discrimination isobserved every year on 21 March tocommemorate the gunning down of thedozens of protestors in Sharpeville,South Africa.

On this “solemn anniversary,” theworst must reaffirm its commitmentto “guard against a repeat of thehorrors rooted in racism,” rangingfrom slavery to ethnic cleansing andgenocide, Mr. Ban said in a messageto commemorate the Day.

This year's observance takes on addedsignificance as South Africa preparesto hold the World Cup, and he stressedthat the world has a collectiveresponsibility to make sure that noracist or xenophobic acts take place,either inside or outside footballstadiums.

“More broadly,” the Secretary-Generalsaid, “we must push for all sportsorganizations to adopt stringent anti-discrimination policies, as well asframeworks for punishing theperpetrators of racist incidents andjustice for the victims.”

The International Day is also anopportunity to highlight the powerfulrole played by sports to bring peopleof all backgrounds and cultures closertogether, he pointed out. “Sports canempower disenfranchisedcommunities, influence ourperceptions and inspire millions ofpeople around the world.”

The memory of the Sharpevillemassacre's victims, Mr. Ban said,should be honoured by stepping up


efforts worldwide to stamp out allforms of racism and racialdiscrimination.

“Let us cherish the rich diversity ofhumankind and respect the inherentdignity and equality of every humanbeing.”

High Commissioner for Human RightsNavi Pillay echoed the Secretary-General's sentiments that thissummer's World Cup provides anopportunity “both to take a fresh lookat the issue of racism in sport, and toenhance sport's tremendous potentialto undermine racism, xenophobia andsimilar forms of intolerance in widersociety.”

In a statement marking theInternational Day, she noted that racismcontinues to be a problem in sports inmany countries, and she urged sportsadministrators to follow the lead setby two of the world's top soccerauthorities – FIFA and UEFA – to putinto place campaigns to banish it at alllevels.

Recalling “disgraceful” incidents atfootball stadiums where fans haveverbally players on the basis of theirrace, Ms. Pillay pointed out that whileFIFA rules allow for points to bededucted when clubs have not takeappropriate action, national leaguesoften do not apply such rules.

“On occasions, rich clubs and richnational bodies have escaped withderisory fines of a few thousand dollarsafter serious racist incidents duringmatches,” she said, urging nationalfootball authorities everywhere to“back their strong rhetoric with seriousand consistent disincentives, includingstadium bans, and point deductions.Until they do so, the admirable goal oferadicating racism in football will notbe achieved.”

Although racial diversity is now thenorm on the football field, minoritiescontinue to be “disturbingly” under-represented at managerial levels, theHigh Commissioner said.

“The role of sports in changingattitudes towards racism is potentiallyimmense – especially sports likefootball which attract huge andpassionate live and TV audiences,” shesaid. “I sincerely hope that the 2010World Cup will not only be a successfuland joyous event in its own right, butthat it will also stimulate furthersustained effort to eradicate racismfrom sport, and through this powerfulvector help extend more positiveattitudes towards minorities andmigrants to society at large.”

For their part, UN independent humanrights experts noted that “racism is notonly yesterday's problem – but animmense challenge for today.”

The scourge continues to plague everysociety and causes suffering formillions worldwide, they said.

“The 50th anniversary of theSharpeville events is a day to rememberand to pay tribute to the many whofell, but also the many who continuethe struggle against racism – helpingto make a difference to their own livesand the lives of others,” the expertssaid, praising the courage anddetermination of those endeavouring toend segregation and racism whileboosting understanding andacceptance.

Too many countries, they underlined,are not carrying out their obligationsagainst racism, with some even beingperpetrators of it.

“Everyday, in every region, often in theface of adversity, people stand upagainst racism and injustice,” the group

said. “Those people should expect theStates where they live to be theirstrongest allies, protecting andsupporting in their daily fight againstracism.”

The UN Educational, Cultural andScientific Organization (UNESCO) isusing its partnership with the footballclub FC Barcelona to kick off an anti-racism campaign on 24 March at theteams game against Osasuna. This willbe followed by other activitiesthroughout the year at which Barcelonaplayers will add their voices to therejection of racism.

Human rights situation in DPRKorea is bleak, independent UN

expert saysThe many instancesof harrowing andhorrific humanrights violations inthe DemocraticPeople’s Republic ofKorea (DPRK) willcontinue unless

certain measures at the national andinternational levels are taken, the UnitedNations Special Rapporteur on humanrights in the country said.

“From witnessing the human rightssituation in the country for the past sixyears, one finding is glaring: the abusesagainst the general population, forwhich authorities should beresponsible, are both egregious andendemic,” said Special Rapporteur VititMuntarbhorn, introducing his finalreport today to the UN Human RightsCouncil in Geneva. Mr. Muntarbhorn’smaximum term of six years expires thisyear.

“This is not to deny that there havebeen some constructive developmentsthroughout the years,” he added. Buthe noted that “the general scenario isbleak.”

Vitit Muntarbhorn,human rights

Special Rapporteurin the DPRK


Mr. Muntarbhorn said that the non-democratic nature of the power basein the DPRK had created a “State ofFear” in which military needs are putahead of people’s needs.

In his report, he suggested that theDPRK should immediately cooperatewith UN agencies and otherhumanitarian actors, and ensureeffective provision of and access tofood and other basic necessities. Henoted that at the end of 2009,authorities had imposed a currencyrevaluation, causing huge inflation,particularly affecting the price of food,and widespread suffering.

He advised a moratorium on capitalpunishment and public executions, andalso terminating the punishment forthose who sought asylum abroad andwere sent back.

In addition, the Special Rapporteurcalled on the Government to resolvethe issue of foreigners abducted as aconsequence of the Korean War in1950 to 1953.

In the longer-term, Mr. Muntarbhorncalled for greater people’s participationin their government which would putthem and their freedoms ahead ofmilitarization and would abide byinternational human rights standards.The Special Rapporteur noted that thesituation in the DPRK is a “specialchallenge of the role of the UnitedNations to impel constructive changesand accountability” and noted the UNas a tool to hold DPRK accountablewhere national institutions had failed.“Various sources have suggested anumber of ways of making thepowers-that-be accountableinternationally, given that the nationalsetting is unable or unwilling to pressfor such accountability. They includethe possibility of the UN Security

Council taking up the issue directly andof establishing a Commission ofInquiry on crimes against humanity.”

In response, Choe Myong Nam, arepresentative for the DPRK,categorically rejected the “SpecialRapporteur” and his report. He calledthe Special Rapporteur position a“product of political confrontationhaving no relevance with humanrights” and called for the position’selimination once and for all.

The representative added that theposition existed as a result of“resolutions” enforced every year bythe United States, Japan and theEuropean Union, as part of attemptsto eliminate the State and social systemof the DPRK. As a Special Rapporteur,Mr. Muntarbhorn serves in anindependent and unpaid capacity andreports to the Human Rights Council.The release of his report comes onemonth after B. Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs,visited the DPRK. He held what hetermed “friendly but frank”discussions on a series of issues,including nuclear activities andDPRK’s relations with other countries.

UN expert on genocide preventiontravels to West Africa

Special Adviserto the Secretary-General on thePrevention ofG e n o c i d e

Francis Deng, Secretary-General BanKi-moon’s Special Adviser on theprevention of genocide is travelling toWest Africa to identify how nationaland sub-regional bodies can helpprevent the scourge.

Due to poor weather, Francis Deng’svisit was delayed and he is nowscheduled to arrive in the region

tomorrow, it was announced in March.He will stop in Guinea, Nigeria andGhana, where he will discuss hismandate with government officials,UN officials on the ground andrepresentatives from the EconomicCommunity of West African States(ECOWAS).Mr. Deng, a Sudanese scholar andadvocate, was named to the post byMr. Ban in 2007 to collect informationon serious violations of human rightsthat could lead to genocide and to bringpotential genocidal situations to theattention of the Security Council.

After holding a range of positions inboth the UN and the SudaneseGovernment, he served as theSecretary-General’s SpecialRepresentative on Internally DisplacedPersons (IDPs) from 1992-2004.

UN human rights chief voicesconcern about abuses in Iran, Sri

Lanka High Commissioner forHuman Rights Navi Pillay

The top UnitedNations humanrights officialtoday voiceddeep concern

about the violent crackdown on dissentin Iran and the marred prospects forpeace in Sri Lanka, where journalists,human rights defenders and othercritics of the Government are beingmistreated.

“I am convinced that Sri Lanka shouldundertake a full reckoning of the graveviolations committed by all sides duringthe war, and that the internationalcommunity can be helpful in thisregard,” High Commissioner forHuman Rights Navi Pillay said recently,presenting her annual report to the 47-member Human Rights Council inGeneva.


In May last year Government forcesin Sri Lanka defeated the LiberationTigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), endinga civil war that had lasted more thantwo decades. UN officials have urgedPresident Mahinda Rajapaksa to keephis commitment, set out in a jointstatement with the world body lastyear, “to ensure full accountability forany crimes against internationalhumanitarian law or abuses of humanrights.”

On Iran, Ms. Pillay said she is deeplyconcerned about the “deteriorating”human rights situation there, includingthe arbitrary arrest of demonstrators,rights activists, journalists andprominent political figures.

“Many have been given harshsentences, including capitalpunishment, for their role in post-election protests after questionabletrials,” she noted, adding that she hasdiscussed these issues with Iranianofficials and has suggested that theauthorities allow her office to visitIran.

Turning to Africa, the HighCommissioner said she met withrepresentatives of Sudan throughout2009 to expressed concern about

death sentences and executions in thatcountry.

Responding to recent report of fightingbetween rebel troops and governmentforces in Jebel Marra in the Darfurregion of Sudan, Ms. Pillay called onall parties to “make the protection ofcivilians their utmost priority” andencouraged armed movements “toenter into dialogue for peace and torespect the right to life.”

On Guinea, Ms. Pillay praised the“excellent cooperation” between theUN, the African Union and theEconomic Community of West AfricanStates (ECOWAS) in investigating the28 September security forcecrackdown on unarmeddemonstrators, in which at least 150people were killed and many othersraped.

Acting on one of the recommendationsof the Commission of Inquiry whichresulted, the Office for the HighCommissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR) may establish an office inGuinea.

In her wide-ranging speech, Ms. Pillayreiterated her call from earlier thisweek for the Egyptian Government to

immediately order its security forcesto stop using “lethal force” againstmigrants trying to enter Israel throughthe Sinai Desert. There have been some60 fatal shootings over the past twoand a half years, she noted.

The High Commissioner also cited heroffice’s priority for combatingdiscrimination against migrants andminorities in Europe, such as Roma,who appear to be living in deterioratingconditions in countries such as Slovakiaand the Czech Republic.

Ms. Pillay said she planned to raise theissue of discrimination and attacksagainst Roma and other migrants withItalian authorities during her visit to thatcountry next week.

In May, she plans to visit Russia whereattacks against human rights defenderstoo often go unpunished, she stated.

Offering praise to Mongolia, Ms. Pillaynoted that President Tsakhia Elbegdorjhad announced a formal moratoriumon the death penalty. She alsohighlighted the work of severalMember States that are addressing thisissue in the Asia-Pacific region, wheremore executions take place than in therest of the world combined.

Please subscribe toHuman Touch

and support us forcreation of a just and equitable society


- Abhishek K. Singh

Slums In Metropolis:

IntroductionIn this modern era of information age,the rapid development of computers,telecommunication and other technolo-gies have led to the new forms of so-cial issues under the umbrella of Glo-balization, Liberalization and Privatiza-tion (LPG). It is a well known fact thatmedia is very important for the devel-opment of social capitals in terms ofmentality, psychology and above all theculture.

Besides all the contributions of massmedia in the developmental journey ofthe Indian social system, we can’t ig-nore various ill effects of mass mediain Indian social system likeObjectification of women, Vulgarityand obscenity, Criminalization in soci-ety, Decline in concept of ‘Simple Liv-ing and High Thinking’, The way offashion (media portrays), Materialis-tic nature of human beings, Suppres-sion of human rights, etc.

Objective• To find out the value and de-

valuation of women’s imagethrough television programmes.

• To mark out possiblereasons and rem-edies which are be-ing used to solve theproblems

MethodologyThe study was conducted inDelhi - NCR region and sub-jects were selected on thebasis of random sampling.

Result and DiscussionIn this research paper, thefocus is on one of the is-

sues which needs especial attention i.e.“Devaluation of Women’s Image onTelevision”. The role of ElectronicMedia especially Television in the In-dian society is that of structured sub-ordination to the primary definers. Be-ing wholly state-controlled, the primarydefiner is the state itself. In this re-

search, more than 50 women basedTelevision Serials like Balika Vadhu,JeetJayenge Hum, Antra,1224 Karol Bagh,Sajan Garh Jana Hai, Godbharai, PavitaRista,Ganesh Leela, Laado etc. havebeen analysed. The findings haveshown that the medium’s output is bi-ased in favour of male elites; femininegenders are constructed as polar op-posites. As per the findings there arefive basic characteristics of electronicmedia, identified as common to all cul-tures:

• Women are under –representa-tion in general, and occupy lesscentral roles than men in televi-sion.

• Marriage and parenthood areconsidered more important towomen than, the traditional di-vision of labour is shown astypical in marriage.

• Employed women are shown intraditionally female occupationas subordinate to men with lit-tle status or power.

• Women on television are morepassive than men.

• Television ignores or distorts thewomen movement.

It was noted that such representationwas the consequence of the develop-ment of a nation - popular will aidedthrough centuries of religious and cul-tural indoctrination. The electronic me-dia is now expanding to reach the wholeworld. It has immense possibility forstrengthening hegemony; in the con-text of the developing countries whichare oriented towards a communal out-door culture, the institutionalization ofstudio-based electronic media is un-leashing a corrosive, coercive force.

The modern trend towards commer-cialization greatly expands the

hegemonial grip of the me-dium; on the one side it con-sistently devalues women,on other side it holds up asdesirable values of bourgeoisliberalism, individual gainand subsequent consumer-ism. Thus, educated per-sons view their own and thecountry’s progress and de-velopment in terms of goodsand services available to theelite. In general TV serials,the woman in the commer-

The Bane of Urban India


cial is completely objectified, otherthan displaying her body and the fab-rics she, does nothing of her person-ality and achievement is known. It isreally an alarming situation as there arenumber of social crimes which mayget powered by the footage of suchserials, people may get positive wipesand act in the same manner and it mightresult increase in criminalization in In-dian family.

The most hackneyedfeature films or serialcan attract moreviewers than non-fic-tion programmes,trend which helps toinscribe values whichare far from empow-ering to women. It isalso very important toinform that percep-tion of Television out-put is both horizontaland longitudinal. Ac-tually, India is ideo-logically highly devel-oped and the sophis-tication of its ideologi-cally apparatusesgoes a long way towards explainingwhy its socio-economic inequalities’continue to persist. In the sample, allthe statement given by audience werecritically analyzed and the commonwordings in these statements are:Bechari, Suppressed, Depressed, Ne-glected, Weak women of typical In-dian society. Another disturbing trendwas also noted as the side-stepping ofthe local government and bureaucracyin favor of one individual. Developmentis presented as taking place thereforenot as a planned, ongoing, long termprocess. All these finding in this analy-sis clearly show that mass media isvery important for the development ofsociety as it improve the efficiency andreliability of social values for coopera-

tion, politeness, tolerance for peoplewith different behavior and customs,respect for law and order. But if suchmessage and script served regularly tothe family, we can easily judge theimage of women community in future.

ConclusionIt is well marked that the importantactivities is associate with the contentof the script as it would be enough ifnot better to change the attitude of the

audience so as to induce a differentdecoding of the message ,such decod-ing can isolate the denying consent tothe hegemonial order. Without suchconsent and complicity the order canonly collapse. However, important themovement media is the struggle to al-ter the face of the maintain media isequally important for three reasons:-

• Since most of these are state-owned, the citizens, whetherwomen or the poor, have a rightto equitable representation onthese media.

• The relentless negative repre-sentation has the effect as wehave seen, of validating wom-en’s inferiority as real and natu-

ral. Under such conditions themessages of the movementmedia are likely to be decodedas aberrant.

• The processes by which chil-dren acquire sex-appropriatebehavior. It was noted in thetheoretical considerations oneprocess as explicated by thegender-scheme theory. If chil-dren are to acquire balancedconception of both genders,

they need to be ex-posed to equitable rep-resentation as thenorm. Stray-feministfilms are likely to beprocessed as aberra-tions.

Hence, on a mediumwhich is insidiouslyinfluencing tomor-row’s policy makers,the requirement is forevery programme toconsider issues ofgender and class eq-uity and it is possiblewhen media provideshealthy content to the

family serials not only to minimize or-thodox philosophy but also to protectthe social culture by maintaining posi-tive standard of media.

Reference:1. M.K. Joseph, Socio. & Comm.Revolution, Anmol Pub.19972. Mass Communication and Develop-ment, B.R. Gupta, VishwavidyalaPrakashan, Varanasi

(The author is a Lecturer inMadhu Bala Institute of

Communication & Electronic Mediaaffiliated to

GGSIP University, Delhiand can be reached at

[email protected])


- Ashish Maggo

Obama’s Health Bill:

On one look at the health condition of America, you will findthere are heart diseases plagu-

ing various parts, partial paralytic at-tacks resulting in atrophy and manyother medical complications originat-ing from aging. Obama's recently pro-posed and accepted health bill will of-fer health insurance to 45 million Ameri-cans who did not have any coveragepreviously. It will be a help for thecitizens who had been under-insured.

The health bill is going to add hopes tothousands of campaigns for healthimprovement which includes heart is-sues and a number of dangerous com-municable diseases besides cancer re-lated problems. Why? Because mostof these health campaigns earlier werelooked at as threats for the commonman's pocket and resulted in giving in,therefore, to medical complications.

Is It A Victory for Capitalism?

People are definitely going to lead afreer life. Besides, employees will bemore committed to their respective or-ganisations because of the exit of fearof their medical insurances(Mediclaim)being scrapped up on being fired in-discriminately. In Academy Award win-ning filmmaker Michael Moore'swords- "The health bill is a victory forcapitalism".

However, there is a fear of people turn-ing to smoking and drinking more be-cause they know smaller consequencesof these evils will be insured by theirMediclaims. It could also mean a deg-radation in the quality of service of thehospital industry as more people willturn to doctors for smaller issues.

Overall I'm glad that the bill did notget rejected as poor people also de-serve a chance to get health treatment.It is a historic legislation crackingdown on insurance company abusesand is the end of a century long questfor nationwide coverage which we arealso trying to achieve here in India. Itis definitely a step towards economicequality.The care which needs to beexercised lies in the issues of doctorshortage, medical abuse and illegalimmigrants.

However, when Obama's health carereform bill was finally passed by theUS Congress, it was but a narrowedwin for President Obama. The publicopinion has reflected the reality thatthere are indeed more Americans whooppose the health care bill as well asObama as President.

Al Gore had warned Americans earlierabout the tendency to find problemswith everything. His future generationsdo not remember his gospel. Also, thefight between the Republicans andDemocrats has to be sidelined whenwe talk of public welfare.To blameObama of concentrating more on thehealth bill rather than the economy ischildish. If you have inducted some-body to power, give him space to act.

In hope, there lies victory.

- The author is pursuing Bachelor inJournalism & Mass Communication

from Madhu Bala Institute ofCommunication & Electronic Media,

affiliated to Guru Gobind SinghIndraprastha University, Delhi


Curing the Ills of India :

Comprehensive Social Security(CSS) shoule be the utmost priority of any government if real

governance is to be covered to all thepeople of India, and this CSS shouldaddress to the following most basic so-cial requirements of human beings, inthe given order:

(i) Food and Clothing,(ii) Security,(iii) Education,(iv) Healthcare, and(v) Housing.

It may be true that due to paucity ofresources in our country, it may notbe possible to provide funds for cater-ing to the aforesaid basic needs of allthe people of the country at a highstandard. But come what may, the Gov-ernment of India must arrange for itspeople (i) basic minimum food, cloth,and reasonable security for their sheersurvival, (ii) education at least up toupper primary school (Class VIII) fortheir further development, (iii) primaryhealthcare at least to take care of theirmost basic natural requirements, like,child-birth, fever, diarrhoea, injuries,prevention from communicable dis-eases as well as unforeseen ailments,such as, cancer, and (iv) housing atleast to cover their heads from the opensky, so as to enable all the citizens tostand up on their own feet and forgeahead to explore possibilities for fur-ther empowerment of their lives. Thismay look too simple or even over sim-plified but sometimes even the mostcomplicated problems get precipitatedbecause of innocuous looking causesat their roots.

If the Government of India undertakesto fulfil its obligation for meeting outthe basic requirements of its people,the remaining problems of the people,like, poverty, unemployment, exploi-tation of weaker sections, suppressionof human rights, population explosion,degradation of natural environment,

mass discontentment manifested invarious dreaded forms, like, naxalism;extremism; other heinous crime-relatedactivities; etc., will gradually fadeaway in oblivion very soon.

It is not that the Government of Indiais not trying to uplift the level of wel-fare of its people but the irony is that itis not focusing on the right target, in-stead, it is trying too many piece-mealsolutions which cannot yield satisfac-tory results and are bound to fail or atbest can only provide temporary suc-cour to the people. The hundreds ofsocial welfare schemes of the Govern-ment of India and the governments ofvarious states of India are analogousto cleaning up of leaves and brushingof stems of a plant instead of applyingwater to its roots.

The basic requirements of the peopleshould be chosen as per their naturalneeds. It is apparent that neither a childwith empty stomach can be educatednor a hungry adult can ever beoptimally productive. Similarly, if a per-son feels insecure by way of appre-hension to the well being of his chil-dren, he will hesitate to send them toany school or to a vocational training

centre. To clarify the point, some re-cent incidents, which were reportedin newspapers, regarding real lifeatrocities perpetuated against girls inour country are provided:

(i) Young school girls of class III& IV of an English medium pri-mary school, were being ex-ploited by their Principal, whowould call these girls for extratuitions on a Saturday and in-stead of teaching them, hewould molest them and alsothreaten them of dire conse-quences including failing themin the examinations if they re-ported these things to anyone.

(ii) An eighteen year old dalit girl,taking training to be a primaryschool teacher, was repeatedlyexploited by a few male teach-ers for a long period with thethreat that she would be failedif she reported the matter toanyone.

People experience even more harrow-ing incidents in their real lives. How-ever, a few samples have been narratedjust with the purpose of highlightingthe urgent need to provide meaningfulsecurity to the people of the country,otherwise lofty dreams of the politicalmasters of the country, like, universalprimary education, universalhealthcare, abolition of child labour, andon the top of all, empowerment ofweaker sections of the country, willjust remain pipe dreams for all timesto come. And the succeeding genera-tions of political leaders will have toapologize to the people of the country

Need for Basic Comprehensive Social Security for All- Dr. Prem Kumar Sinha


for the incompetence of the earlier gen-erations of political masters in the sameway as the Canadian Prime MinisterStephan Harper apologized on the 11thJune, 2008, to the Aboriginal peopleof Canada for the past abuses and ex-ploitation of various kinds suffered bythe Aboriginal children during theirschooling days. Not long ago, thePrime Minister of Australia Kevin Ruddhad also apologized on the 13th Feb-ruary 2008, to the Aborigines andTorres Strait Islanders of Australia, forthe exploitation and maltreatment suf-fered by the past genera-tions of these people.

In a nutshell, one can saythat the food and securityare the most basic needs ofhuman beings. And manypoor people of India spendmost of their lives in searchof food and security, with-out their ever enjoying thecomfort and dignity, humanbeings deserve on accountof advancement of theircivilization and superior in-tellect in comparison toother living creatures on thisplanet.

One can easily dispel the thought ofproviding the basic CSS to all the peo-ple of the county by counter-argu-ments that the Indian Governmentlacks resources for this mammoth taskof providing basic CSS to all the citi-zens, however, the truth is otherwiseand the following narration will dem-onstrate as to how easily resources canbe generated for meeting out the basicrequirements of the people.

However, before we embark upon themission to find out resources for pro-viding basic CSS to all, first we shouldtry to estimate the total requirement offunds for providing basic CSS to allthe people of India, whether they be-

long to the Below Poverty Line (BPL)group or the Above Poverty Line (APL)group. One may argue that the peopleof the APL group, who would also becomprising rich and super rich, neednot be considered for this CSS coveras they do not need it apparently. FItis of course clear that rich and super-rich surely do not need any kind ofsubsidies. But because of existing poli-cies of the Government, the people ofthe APL category are already enjoyinglion’s share of government subsidiesin their daily lives, like, (i) low-cost

food-grains on account of suppressedMinimum Support Prices which arethrust upon hapless farmers, who aredenied free-market for marketing oftheir agricultural produce in the coun-try as well as in the international mar-ket, (ii) subsidized electricity, (iii) sub-sidized fuel (LPG), (iii) economical la-bour because poor people have limitedbargaining power for seeking employ-ment with decent remuneration,whether they are employed as farm-labour or factory-labour or unskilledworker or even when they are em-ployed as domestic help, (v) highlysubsidized higher education which ismostly enjoyed by the upper crust ofpeople whether belonging to the gen-eral category or the OBC category orthe SC/ST category, etc.

Just to illustrate this point of view, afew areas are identfied where the Gov-ernment of India (GOI) subsidizes, buta major portion of it is consumed by25% population of the country, say 250millions, who comprise people ofhigher income groups of the society:

1. Considering that a higher in-come group household, com-prising four members, con-sumes 12 LPG cylinders perannum then as per the estimatedsubsidy of Rs.300/- per LPG

cylinder (which keeps onchanging as per the interna-tional prices of petroleumproducts), a subsidy ofRs.3600/- per annum perhousehold, i.e., Rs.900/- perperson per annum is en-joyed by these higher in-come group people,whereas the poor peopleeven do not have means toavail of benefits of subsi-dized LPG. In fact, the richpeople consume even moreLPG by way of using LPGfor their room heaters andgeysers in the winter be-

sides running their motor vehi-cles and generators on the sub-sidized LPG.

2. Similarly, if we take into ac-count the government subsidyon fertilizers, which is estimatedby the Ministry of Fertilizers ofthe GOI, to be about Rs.1000billion for the fiscal 2007-08, itis guesstimated that more thanhalf of this subsidy, i.e., morethan 500 billion, is enjoyed bythe upper crust of the people byway of higher consumption offood-grains, pulses, vegetables,fruits, milk and other productswhich are derived from fodderconsuming animals. Thus, itcan be said that, on an average,


a subsidy of Rs.2000/- per per-son per annum is enjoyed by thepeople belonging to the uppercrust of the society on this head,also.

3. Now, if we assume that on anaverage, one child of a house-hold belonging to the higher in-come group, receives highereducation (undergraduate orabove) for a duration of 5 yearsin a government-aided educa-tional institution,for which as perconservative esti-mates, on an av-erage, Govern-ment spendsaround Rs.0.1 mil-lion per studentper annum, then atotal subsidy ofRs.0.5 million isavailed of by thishousehold on thishead, too. Consid-ering that a fullspan of birth andhigher educationof children, takes a period oftwenty five years then it turnsout that a sum of Rs.20,000/-per annum is spent by the Gov-ernment on every household ofhigher income groups, whichamounts to a subsidy of aboutRs.5000/- per person per annum(assuming 4 persons per house-hold) for the people belongingto the higher income groups.

4. Thus, the total value of theaforesaid estimated subsidiesamounts to about Rs.7900/- perperson per annum, for the peo-ple of the higher income groups,even when many other items onwhich subsidies exist, like in-expensive food-grains, eco-nomical manual labour, as al-

ready discussed in the begin-ning, have not been included inthis subsidy estimate. Besidesthe above estimated subsidies,there are many other hiddensubsidies in the form of otheramenities, benefits of whichmostly percolate towards thepeople of the urban areas wheremajority of people of high in-come groups reside, like, (i)updated healthcare facilities, (ii)better law and order conditions

due to closer support of policeand civil administration, (iii)proximity to various govern-ment offices, (iv) better net-work of electric and water sup-ply, (v) better infrastructure ofroad-network, (vi) developedretail and wholesale markets,etc., in which Governmentkeeps on investing millions ofrupees year after year. Whereasrural and less developed areaswhere more than 60% popula-tion of the country resides, alarge majority of whom arepoor, remain deprived from theaforesaid amenities.

Supposedly, if the existing regime ofdisproportional subsidies is re-visitedand all the people of the country are

provided with the same amount of sub-sidy in the form of basic CSS or com-pensation in lieu thereof in other meas-ures then the net outgo from the cof-fer of the Government of India will notbe substantially higher than what is be-ing spent, presently, by the CentralGovernment and the governments ofvarious states of India in the form ofvarious kinds of subsidies, tax exemp-tions, and hundreds of other populistwelfare schemes in vogue in the coun-try, which cater to the specified target

groups along with hugepilferages and tremen-dous administrativecosts attached for theirimplementation.

Moreover, such populistwelfare measures onlyspoil those for whomthese are meant, besideseroding the competitivespirit of the society atlarge. I will delve later thevarious measures whichcan be employed effort-lessly to generate mas-sive savings, from elimi-

nating the superfluous subsidies whichare being presently showered on thepeople of the APL category.

But it should not be feared that the cutof subsidies which are presently en-joyed by the people of the APL cat-egory, will in any way, lower the qual-ity of their lives, in fact, it will improvetheir lives because from the generatedsavings, the whole county will pros-per at a rapid pace and give rise to thefeeling of social security among all themasses. Moreover, the people on theverge of poverty or those nominallyabove the poverty line, will also notfeel the impact of reduction of subsi-dies. It will be only those people, whobelong to the upper class and consumemuch more resources than the aver-age people, who will experience some


financial impact but they are alreadywell off in comparison to others andthus they are very well positioned toeasily withstand the effect of reduc-tion of subsidies. Further, how is thisjustified that the extravagant living ofrich people should be subsidized fromthe sweat and hard labour of poor peo-ple of the country? In India, the richenjoy exclusive privileges, at the costof government resources and the poorare denied even their basic dues withthe justification, as portrayed beauti-fully in the following words ofJohn Kenneth Galbraith, “Thereis a common tendency to ignorethe poor or to develop some ra-tionalisation for the good fortuneof the fortunate”.

Presently, majority of the peopleof the country feel insecure; thepeople of the APL category re-main apprehensive that they arevulnerable to assault on their prop-erty and lives in the present dayvolatile environment, while on the otherhand, the people of the BPL categoryfeel insecure as they always remainsceptical about the future of theirs andtheir families. People of the BPL cat-egory remain unsure whether theywould even be able to provide adequatefood and take care of their families,without interruption in future? Thequestions of good education, soundhealthcare, and safe housing, seldomoccupy top priority in the minds of thepoor people, because the worries offood and security keep haunting themall the time. The immediate impact ofequitable distribution of resourcesamong the masses would be that allthe young people of the country willhave reasonable opportunity forgrowth in the early formative days oftheir lives, which are most crucial fortheir sound development, which, inturn, will usher in an era of all roundgrowth of the nation and universal wel-fare of its entire population.

Otherwise, the following words ofJohn F. Kennedy, former President ofthe United States of America, will cometrue who said, “If a free society can-not help the many who are poor, itcannot save the few who are rich”.This quote is relevant all over the worldbut more so in case of India, wherewaging disparity among the rich andthe poor is increasing day by day andsowing the seeds for all-around bitter-ness, reflection of which can be seenfrom the rising trend of naxal related

activities in the country besides everdeteriorating law and order situation inthe country.

Because naxalism and extremism getmost of their feed from the vulnerablesections of the society, which haveremained exploited and/or deprivedeven from essential livelihood support.Such oppressed youth are easy targetsof radical elements as these youth arepromised livelihood support for them-selves and their families, besides this,they also smell power through the bar-rel of the gun for avenging the mal-treatment suffered by them and theirfamilies at the hands of the powerfulof the society. If the Government canprovide the basic essential livelihoodsupport and meaningful security to allthen no one will experience oppressionin the society. And everyone will haveequitable chance to grow in this worldto realize his dreams and, conse-quently, enjoy recognition in the soci-

ety, and thereafter pursue for evenhigher goal of self-actualization of hisinner-self, which will provide him ul-timate satisfaction in life.

However, if we fail to address theselegitimate concerns of the people, theflame of retaliation which naturally kin-dles in those who feel oppressed bythe society, will assume menacing formwhen it is stoked and inflamed furtherby the indoctrination at the hands ofradical elements. And then in no time

this will transform an oppressedand hapless youth into a dreadedextremist or revolutionary. Ex-tremists project that they arefighting against oppressors andit gives credibility to their doc-trine. Therefore, if somehow thefeeling among the people thatthey are oppressed by the soci-ety, is weaned away then the ex-tremism will fade away of itsown and will usher in an era ofall-around peace and tranquillity,

and this is possible only when essen-tial livelihood support and security isprovided to one and all in the country.

Now, we explore the ways wherebythe most basic Comprehensive SocialSecurity (CSS) cover can be extendedto all the people of the country effec-tively and optimally so that neither mis-appropriation of funds takes place,which has so far remained associatedwith almost all the social welfareschemes launched by the Government,nor will administrative cost for pro-viding this basic CSS to the peopleshoots up painfully.

(This is the second of a series ofarticles based on the book

“Curing the Ills of India”)

- The author is working as theAssistant Registrar (Academic) at

Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra


Appeal:

T he Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information concerning the case of a

teenage boy who was abducted bythree unknown men and killed later. Hiscorpse was identified in a mortuary byhis neighbours when they went to iden-tify the body of another person, killedin identical circumstances. Reportsstrongly suggest that the boy was ab-ducted and killed by a combined teamof officers from the Manipur statepolice and the Assam Rifles stationedin Manipur.

Case Details:On 18 March 2010 Amujao, a bus con-ductor and cleaner, and Mr. ElangbamJibon, a driver were on duty on a busrunning between Wabgai and Imphal.At about 2pm they parked the bus atAndro bus station in Imphalnear Konung Mamang andwaited for their turn to go toWabgai.

According to our informationthree unknown men, sus-pected to be police officers,entered the bus and startedtalking to Amujao; theywarned Jibon to stay in thebus after asking to see thevehicle's documents. Theydragged Amujao from the busand took him away in a three-wheeler. At around 4pm Jibontold members of Amujao’sfamily, who tried and failed tocontact him.

The next day Amujao's corpsewas found by his neighbours,who were at the mortuary of

the Regional Institute of Medical Sci-ences (RIMS) at Imphal to identify andreceive another body, that of Mr.Chongtham Nanao.

The circumstances of Nanao's deathhas been reported by the AHRC in

UAC-035-2010, and a combined teamof Thoubal Police Commandos and 21Assam Rifles (AR) are facing allega-tions of murder.

Late that day the Assam Rifles informedAmujao's family that they had killedAmujao in an armed encounter withthe 28-Assam Rifles at a place calledKongba Irong (under the jurisdiction

An 18-year-old boy is Abducted and Murdered in Manipur

of Irilbung Police Station, ImphalEast). The Assam Rifles also claim thatthey recovered arms and ammunitionfrom the victim.

It should be known that Amujao is frompoor family and was its only earningmember. In the past he had undergonesix months imprisonment for a pettyoffense, though there were no othercases registered against him at the timeof his death. On 20 March people inhis community formed a Joint ActionCommittee to protest against his ille-gal arrest and murder. They have sub-mitted a memorandum to the ChiefMinister of the state demanding an in-vestigation in the case and the pros-ecution of those involved.

Additional Information:The AHRC has been report-ing similar cases of extraju-dicial executions fromManipur for a number ofyears, and has observed pat-terns in the violations takingplace. Most victims are ab-ducted by unidentified menimmediately before their re-ported murder in an armed'encounter'. Often the policeand/or the division of theparamilitary force involved inthe case claim that they re-covered arms and ammuni-tion from the victim.

Of the cases reported fromManipur, not one has been in-vestigated so far by any in-dependent agencies. Pleasebe aware that although theNational Human Rights Com-


mission issued guidelines for policehandling of cases of extrajudicial ex-ecutions, found here, the state has notfollowed them.

As evidenced in Amujao's and Nanao'scases the security forces breach allstatutory requirements at the time ofarrest in Manipur. According to theCriminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC),1974, the arresting officer, whether heis in uniform or not, has to inform thearrested person who they are and whythey are arresting the person. The of-ficers also have a statutory responsi-bility to inform the immediate relativeof the detainee, or a person of the de-tainee's choice the place where the ar-rested person will be detained. At thetime of arrest, at the choice of the ar-rested person, the officers must makeavailable an independent person tosearch the body of the arresting offic-ers and that of the detainee so that falseclaims regarding recovery of contra-band articles does not arise.

According to the information availableto the AHRC, this procedure has notbeen followed in a single case in whichthe detainee has been later reported tobe killed in an armed encounter. This

ported by the AHRC to theNHRC;

4. If the statement provided by Mr.Elangbam Jibon reveals that thestate agents have arrestedAmujao without following thedirectives of the Supreme Courtin the D. K. Basu case, the of-ficers are immediately pros-ecuted for contempt of courtand

5. Amujao's family is provided aninterim compensation pendinginvestigation in the case.

- HT Bureau

not only negates the law, but is in con-tempt of the Indian Supreme Court'sorders as delivered in the D. K. Basucase, and later incorporated into theCr.PC. So far, in spite of repeated ef-forts by civil society organisations inIndia, the Supreme Court has failed totake any action on cases reported tothe Court that shows the clear viola-tion of its own directives.

Manavadhikar Samajik Manch is of theopinion that the murder of 18-year-oldAmujao must be investigated as di-rected by the NHRC. We request theGovernment of India and the NRHCto direct the Government of Manipurto ensure that:

1. The statement of witnesses inthe case, in particular that of busdriver Mr. Elangbam Jibon isrecorded by a judicial magis-trate;

2. The witnesses in the case areprovided protection;

3. Reports are filed as directed bythe National Human RightsCommission concerning casesof extrajudicial executions re-

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73rd Issue

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