annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Jharkhand
Duggi’s hands and legs were reportedly
chopped off before hacking him to death,
Jageshwar’s head was smashed with a
huge stone. 18
On the night of 10 January 2004,
MCC cadres reportedly abducted
Pratappur Block Development Officer
(BDO), Bharat Bhushan Prasad, his son
and two others from Pratappur block in
Chatra district. About 30 to 40 armed
activists attacked Prasad’s residence and
kidnapped him. When his son tried to
show some resistance, he too was
abducted along with the driver and his
assistant. However, the naxalites released
the son and the driver. 19
The Maoists were responsible for
destruction of infrastructure. In the
morning of 6 January 2004, suspected
members of the PWG reportedly blew up
the Ramna railway station in Garhwa
district. 20 On 20 July 2004, the MCC
cadres blew up the office of TRYCEM
located at the block headquarters of Gawa
of Giridih district as the policemen came
and stayed there earlier. 21 At around 3 a.m.
on 21 October 2004, the PWG blew up the
railway station in Latehar district to
protest against the killing of a sub-zonal
commander in a police encounter. 22 On the
night of 15 November 2004, suspected
PWG members blew up a guest house
belonging to the State Forest Department
at Bishrampur under Ranka police station
limits in Garhwa district. 23
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IV. Violence against women
A National Commission of Women
report on the state of women in Jharkhand
released in New Delhi on 22 December
2004 stated that about 400 women have
been killed in illegal mines mishaps in
Jharkhand since 1988. Most of these
deaths ahve been reportedly denied by the
police. Even, the dependents of the victims
remained silent fearing legal reprisals. The
report quoting a survey stated that the poor
tribal women in the state have been
compelled to take to illegal miningmanual
extraction of coal from abandoned
Pits to earn a meager living after losing
their husbands and sons in mine disasters.
According to the survey, more than 90 per
cent women in Hazaribagh-Chhatra
districts have lost their agricultural land to
mines. This has forced them to work as
contract labourers and as domestic help in
urban centres, making them vulnerable to
sexual abuse. As payments in mines are
erratic, the labourers cannot afford to buy
cereals at market rate while the Public
Distribution System has broken down.
Women often stay hungry to ensure
adequate food for the family. This has led
to increased malnutrition, calcium
deficiency and blood deficiency related
diseases among them. 24
On 9 December 2004, a newly
married couple Galo Kumari and Bishnu
Naik were allegedly stripped, tonsured,
beaten and paraded naked in public for
marrying out of caste in Manhu village in
Khunti sub-division of Ranchi district.
When an old woman tried to cover up the
girl with a piece of cloth, she was also
beaten up. The couple was finally