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

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Rajasthan
death by Rajasthan Police including
custodial death of Nangi, a 19-year-old
married girl belonging to the pastoral
Bagaria community of Kagya village in
Phagi tehsil in Jaipur district on 4 October
2004. 1
Torture and the use of
disproportionate force were rampant. Four
farmers were reportedly killed and at least
30 others injured in police firing in
Gharsana tehsil in Sriganganagar district
on 27 October 2004. 2 In another incident,
the Rajasthan Unit of the People’s Union
for Civil Liberties (PUCL) reportedly
found that on 7 October 2004, Rajasthan
Police thrashed the demonstrators
comprising of the school children, their
parents and villagers at Kuhadwas village
in Jhunjhunu district and resorted to firing
without any provocation. They were
protesting against the transfer of the
school Principal, Ganga Ram who had
improved the academic atmosphere. 3
The Dalits faced serious human rights
violations and caste oppression. The
government has failed to release Justice
SK Lodha Commission report inquiring
into the Kumher massacre of 6 June 1992
in which 17 Dalits were massacred by the
upper castes. On 13 October 2004, the
Rajasthan High Court issued notice to the
state Chief Secretary for contempt of court
for the state government’s failure to table
the Lodha Commission report before the
Assembly. 4
Women faced violence from the police
as well as the society. There was at least
one report of honour killing of 15-year-
212
old minor girl, Neelam Gujjar from
Shahadpur village in Dausa district on the
night of 22 September 2004. She had
allegedly eloped with a Dalit boy. 5
The Adivasis, indigenous peoples
continued to face threats of eviction from
revenue villages by the forest department.
Forty-five tribal families in Bali tehsil of
Pali district were evicted from the land
where they had been living for several
decades. 6 The forest department served
notices to 800 families in the Kishanganj
area in Baran district alleging
encroachment on forestlands. 7 The
Sahariya tribal communities became
disproportionate victims of starvation
death. At least 35 tribal people reportedly
died of hunger and hunger related diseases
in May-June 2004. 8
The conditions of the prisons in
Rajasthan were deplorable. There were
serious shortages of staff. About 50 percent
posts have reportedly been lying vacant for
more than a decade. 9 Ailing prisoners at the
Kota Central Jail have reportedly been
inhumanly tortured at a prisoner’s ward in
a hospital at Kota. 10 At the Barmer district
jail, there was neither any female staff to
deal with female prisoners nor did the
female prisoners had separate provisions.
II. Human rights violations by law
enforcement personnel
i. Arbitrary deprivation of the right to
life
There have been reports of high
number of custodial deaths in Rajashthan.