annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
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INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Jharkhand<br />
to submit a <strong>report</strong> on the death of Santu<br />
Munda. 45<br />
In August 2004, 50-year-old Lepsi<br />
Devi, a resident of Tilaya Tolak in Garhwa<br />
district <strong>report</strong>edly died of starvation and<br />
malnutrition. The victim had <strong>report</strong>edly<br />
survived on herbs <strong>for</strong> one month be<strong>for</strong>e her<br />
death. Her son and daughter-in-law left the<br />
place to escape starvation. Several other<br />
residents of the village were <strong>report</strong>edly<br />
facing starvation. However, the district<br />
administration denied any starvation<br />
death. 46<br />
Machindra Mahto, a farmer from<br />
Tikratoli village, committed suicide by<br />
consuming pesticides in first week of<br />
September 2004. He had taken a loan of<br />
Rs 70,000 from money lenders and was<br />
unable to repay it. Like Machindra<br />
hundreds of farmers in the state have been<br />
reeling under heavy debt and desperation. 47<br />
On 17 October 2004, 15-year-old<br />
Bduba Mushar died inside a roadside<br />
shelter at Pirojpur in Maherama block of<br />
Godda district due to starvation. Mushar<br />
took to begging to support himself and his<br />
80-year-old grandmother, Tunia Devi,<br />
after the death of his parents within a span<br />
of two years. 48<br />
In October 2004, 50-year-old Jalia<br />
Mahara, a poor widow, died of<br />
malnutrition in Fulchi village under<br />
Madhupur subdivision of Deoghar district.<br />
Lakshman Mahara, a relative, stated that<br />
the villagers had approached the local<br />
administration a number of times <strong>for</strong> grant<br />
of old-age pension <strong>for</strong> the woman, who<br />
had to beg to earn her bread as she was<br />
114<br />
childless. But the villagers alleged that the<br />
administration took no step to provide<br />
relief to the hapless woman. 49<br />
A two-member committee appointed<br />
by the Jharkhand government on a directive<br />
from the Supreme Court following <strong>report</strong>s<br />
of starvation death in the state found that<br />
the Block Development Officer (BDO) of<br />
Paki block in Palamau district, Ibrara<br />
Hassan, had directed his subordinates not to<br />
provide any foodgrains to people in Ulgara<br />
village because they exposed the hunger<br />
death of a woman in the village to <strong>report</strong>ers.<br />
The BDO allegedly promised the villagers<br />
to dig two wells and a pond in the area if<br />
they denied that the hunger death took place<br />
in August 2004. The investigation<br />
committee has <strong>report</strong>edly recommended<br />
action against the BDO. The committee<br />
also found that seventeen families in the<br />
village were facing acute hunger and<br />
needed immediate relief. 50<br />
VI. Misue of POTA<br />
Jhakhand had the highest number of<br />
detainees under the POTA. A total of 128<br />
POTA cases have been lodged by the State<br />
Police and 281 persons were arrested since<br />
POTA was invoked in 2002. The official<br />
number of POTA arrests in other states<br />
were as follows: 181 in Jammu and<br />
Kashmir, 83 in Gujarat, 44 in Delhi, 42 in<br />
Maharashtra, 41 in Tamil Nadu, 40 in<br />
Andhra Pradesh, 28 in Uttar Pradesh, 6 in<br />
Sikkim, and 3 in Himachal Pradesh. 51<br />
On 6 September 2002, the state police<br />
raided the house of one Hemlal Mahato<br />
whom they suspected to be an activist of