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

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Madhya Pradesh
police officer responsible for custodial
death of a convict, Shambhu Tyagi in June
1984. However, most custodial deaths
went unpunished like the death of Hamid
Khan on 15 June 1995, Govind Prasad of
1997, Pancham Kachhi of 1998 and Kesar
Singh of 2001. 2 In February 2004, Justice
R D Shukla, former Chairman of the
Madhya Pradesh State Human Rights
Commission stated that the state
government had been non-cooperative. 3
Violence against women including
rape, molestation, dowry harassment and
dowry deaths, was widespread. Even
mediaeval form of atrocity against women
namely Sati has been reported to be alive
in the rural parts of the state.
The Dalit and indigenous women
were vulnerable, especially of rape by the
upper caste and the law enforcement
personnel. On the night of 8 July 2004,
three women of a Dalit family were
allegedly gang raped by about thirty men
belonging to upper caste at Bhamtola
village under Kahniwara police station in
Seoni district in retaliation for elopement
of a Dalit boy with an upper caste girl. 4
The residents remained mute spectators to
the ghastly act. 5
The Dalits are subject to humiliation,
torture, rape, social boycott, and
systematic discrimination and execution.
When landless Dalits get patta (ownership
deed) from the government, the upper
castes chase them away and grab their
lands under the noses of the authorities.
Adivasis, indigenous peoples face
serious human rights violations and
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continued to be displaced and evicted from
their traditional habitations. There have
been reports of serious violations of the
rights of the scheduled tribes by both the
state and the non-state actors. On 4 July
2004, forest officials and police reportedly
attacked the Korku tribals in Bhandarpani
area in Betul district, destroyed their
properties, and forcibly evicted them.
Many were taken to undisclosed locations
forcing one Bakat Singh Korku, whose
wife and six children went missing after
the raid to file a habeas corpus in the
Jabalpur Bench of the Madhya Pradesh
High Court.
The state government failed to
implement the directions of the Supreme
Court and the Narmada Water Disputes
Tribunal Award stating that land should be
made available to the oustees at least a
year in advance before submergence.
Following the increase of the height of
Indira Sagar Dam height to 245 meters,
34,882 families residing in 120 villages in
Khandwa district were displaced and
thousands were not rehabilitated. At least
10,000 families have been under threats of
submergence and displacement without
any resettlement due to increase in the
Sardar Sarovar dam height to 110 metres
without rehabilitating the already
displaced persons.
Prison conditions remained
deplorable. There have been reports of
deaths of several prisoners due to lack of
medical facilities and negligence of the
administration. Sexual abuses in the
prisons have also been reported.