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

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Uttar Pradesh
of the Rajput community in the local
police station. Hundreds of Dalits
demonstrated at the camp office of the
District Magistrate, Bagpat on 1
September 2004 protesting against the act
of brutality. 45
On 29 September 2004, the upper
caste students of Gora Primary School,
near Lucknow, reportedly refused to have
mid-day meal with their Dalit classmates. 46
In October 2004, over 100 children
belonging to upper caste community of a
government primary school in village
Magla Moosa near Modinagar in
Ghaziabad district reportedly refused to
eat the food cooked by a Dalit woman
under the mid-day meal plan. The matter
came to light after an inspection team of
state education department visited the
school for supplying the meal. 47
V. Prisons and prisoners
Prison conditions were deplorable and
prisoners were subjected to abuses by the
inmates, often dreaded criminals as well as
the prison staff.
In January 2004, the NHRC sent a
show cause notice to the state government
asking why interim compensation should
not be given to the next kin of an
undertrial, Kolumbus, who died on 8
September 2003 after he was slashed with
a knife and razor by three other inmates in
a court lock-up in Lucknow. The NHRC
said it was a matter of “serious concern”
that sharp-edged weapons were available
to prisoners in the lock-up. 48
On 22 April 2004, the Allabahad
High Court directed the Uttar Pradesh
government and IG prisons to submit
within two months the report of prisoners
languishing in all UP jails for more than
14 years, and directed them to ensure
disposal of all pending applications. The
order was passed following a petition
filed from jail by a life convict Bachey
Lal, who had served 14 years in Varanasi
Jail. 49
■
251