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Wednesday, Jun 23, 2004

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West Bengal rights panel directive to Government

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, JUNE 22. The West Bengal Government today received directives from the State Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) in three cases. The WBHRC chairman, Justice Shyamal Sen, directed the District Magistrate to prepare a detailed report on the alleged starvation deaths at Amlasole in West Midnapore district.

The Commission took suo motu cognisance of the deaths at Amlasole on the basis of newspaper reports and directed the administration to submit a detailed report within a month. ``The right to live with dignity is a basic human right,'' Justice Sen said.

The WBHRC also sought an explanation from the State-run Kolkata Medical College and Hospital on how a patient escaped from the premises and died on a pavement on June 18. It directed the hospital's superintendent to submit a report within four weeks.

The Commission was referring to the incident in which a 54-year-old patient, Ashish Chakraborty, was found dead on a pavement, close to the hospital. When the Bowbazar police found the body, it had saline stickers on. The hospital authorities had ordered an inquiry into how the patient could manage to give them the slip despite security.

These apart, the Commission sought a report from the State Government on what measures it proposed to initiate ``to check poverty-related deaths reported from the tea gardens of North Bengal.''

Taking suo motu cognisance of a report published in a Bengali-language daily, the Commission directed the Chief Secretary, Ashok Gupta, to ask the District Magistrates of the North Bengal districts to initiate an inquiry and submit a report within four weeks. ``It has been reported that over 1000 people have died due to poverty-related reasons in the North Bengal tea gardens. Also a girl named Durga has reportedly taken to prostitution as a last recourse. The matter requires serious consideration,'' Justice Sen said in the order.

He also said that the Commission had earlier called for a report from the Chief Secretary on the issue. The report it received from the Joint Secretary said that only a few tea gardens in the region remained closed. ``The report does not mention anything on the question of deaths due to starvation. It is a matter of grave concern and we cannot ignore the newspaper report mentioning such a large number of deaths due to poverty.''

A city-based NGO today staged a sit-in-demonstration urging the President, A.P.J Abdul Kalam, and the West Bengal Governor, Viren J. Shah, to commute the death penalty of Dhananjoy Chatterjee scheduled for execution on June 25 for raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl in 1989.

The Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), backed by city intellectuals such as Mrinal Sen, Mahashweta Devi and Aparna Sen, had earlier submitted a memorandum to the President and the Governor recording their protests against Chatterjee's scheduled execution.

``In the light of international human rights ideals, death penalty is cruel, inhuman and uncivil,'' the APDR general secretary, Sujato Bhadra, said.

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