NHRC seeks report from Kerala on Dalit girl’s rape involving 59 accused

New Delhi, Jan 20 The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of the reported sexual abuse of a girl belonging to the Scheduled Caste in Kerala and arrest of 44 people, seeking a report from the state government within two weeks, an official said on Monday.

So far, 59 accused have been named in 30 FIRs filed in connection with the matter in Pathanamthitta district.

Two of the accused have fled the country and 13 others are yet to be arrested.

The Commission has observed that the contents of the media report, if true, raise a serious issue of the human rights violation of the victim girl.

It issued notices to Kerala’s Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police, calling for a detailed report in the matter.

The NHRC said the report should include the status of the FIR, the victim’s health and the medical care, counselling and compensation, if any, provided to her in the reported matter within two weeks.

According to the media report, carried on January 15, the girl, who is now 18 years old, reportedly alleged in her complaint that she was sexually abused by several individuals.

The matter came to light during counselling conducted by the Child Welfare Committee, after the victim’s teachers at an educational institution informed the panel about noticeable changes in her behaviour.

Earlier this month, the NHRC took cognisance of an incident in Karnataka in which a 72-year-old man committed suicide on December 25 after a public hospital in Bengaluru declined to provide him treatment under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

As per a media report, the state-run Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology had denied him the benefit of Rs 5 lakh cover under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) for which he had enrolled himself, stating that state government orders in this regard had not arrived yet.

Observing that the contents of the media report, if true, raised a serious issue of violation of human rights, the Commission said that a few more cases regarding the problems being faced by the beneficiaries of the AB PM-JAY scheme for senior citizens had also been mentioned in the news report.

Taking suo motu cognisance of the matter, the NHRC issued notices to the Secretary of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Chief Secretary of Karnataka and called for a detailed report on the matter.

Source: IANS