From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Assam raised concern over high rate of crime against women in Assam even though the Commission finds overall human rights scenario better in the State than most other states in the country.
The chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Justice KG Balakrishnan on Tuesday said , “The overall human rights scene is better in Assam than most other states. Various parameters, like law and order and implementing authority, determine the human rights scene and it is mostly satisfactory here. However, the high incidence of crime against women is a matter of concern.” He said Assam registered second highest number of incidents of crime against women in the entire country.
Justice Balakrishnan was in the city for a two-day camp sitting of the NHRC, during which 50 cases were taken up, out of which 17 were taken up by the full Bench of the Commission.
Altogether 14 cases were closed during the sittings that ended today and the NHRC ordered compensation of Rs 35 lakh to victims of various human rights violation cases.
“The director general of police (of Assam) told us that most cases were under section 498 (domestic violence). The police and state government mechanism is sensitized here to deal with cases of crime against women,” he said.
The NHRC members pointed that though the state performed brilliantly in less number of cases in vulnerable sections, like crimes against ST and crime against children, it has the dubious distinction of registering second highest number of crime against women in the entire country.
The cases were mainly crime of abduction and kidnapping, rape and cases under section 498.
“While the cases under section 498 indicate high level of awareness among women, the other two categories are highly violent ones and clearly there is a problem,” an NHRC member said.
The NHRC met representatives of NGOs during the camp-sitting, who mainly raised issues of adivasi people evicted from forest land, eviction from government land, child care and destitute centres and working conditions of tea garden workers.
