Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

A tryst to highlight rights

Staff Reporter

Team to cover 50,000 km by road

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was an SOS that took even the president of the All India Human Rights Association, a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), by surprise. In the State as part of a nation-wide campaign to spread awareness on human rights, M.U. Dua and his fellow campaigners were stumped for an answer when a 59-year-old man from Kochi approached them with a request to save him from his wife's harassment.

"He appeared desperate and wanted to know whether there are any laws that would safeguard his rights from his wife, who frequently threatened to desert him," said Mr. Dua. "Through the years, we have received all kinds of complaints about human rights violations, but this was certainly the strangest," said Mr. Dua, who along with his team members reached the city on Tuesday morning.

The team, which has set on an ambitious task of covering 50,000 km by road across 33 States, will complete the mission on August 15, Independence Day, at the Red Fort.

The campaign, which started with 16 members from New Delhi, has, however, whittled down to eight.

One of the earliest NGO's campaigning for human rights in the country, the association has 18,000 members with 66 centres across the country. "This is the first time a road trip has been organised to spread awareness on human rights in the country. Our mission is to spread the message of love, equality, justice and brotherhood among the people," he said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Corporation to intensify vector control measures
Completing her beloved's novel
Tense situation at DMO's office
A tryst to highlight rights
Crackdown hits parcel traffic
Court directs director to surrender passport
KSRTC bus runs over motorcyclist
Crime Branch to submit charge-sheet
Keeping a tradition alive
Cashew workers stage dharna
Train to stop at Avadi station
Solitary sentinel
Around the City
In Tiruvananthapuram Today

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu