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

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Preface
who were forced to flee their homes along
the India-Pakistan border in Jammu and
Kashmir have been deplorable. The
apathy of the state government towards the
plight of the border migrants was
manifested from tortured to death of
Chairman of Border Migrant Action
Committee, Chajju Ram of Nikkian
village in Khour block of tehsil Akhnoor in
Jammu district on 2 March 2004 at Kot
Ghari. While displaced Kashmiri Pandits
receive Rs 750 per person, an adult Reang
IDP in Tripura receives only Rs. 2.67 paise
a day and a minor received half of it.
The conditions of the Dalits remain
deplorable and they continue to be denied
access to public places such as places of
worship, water wells etc across India. If
Dalits touch something, they need to be
purified by washing with Ganga jal, water
of holy Ganges, or cow urine as was
reportedly done at the Hanuman Temple of
Allapur village in Medak district of
Andhra Pradesh. Yet, rape of the
untouchable women by the upper castes
especially in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan is a common
practice. Societal double standards,
hypocrisy and impunity contribute to
growing atrocities of the Dalits by the
upper castes. Of the 4,084 cases of
atrocities against Scheduled Castes
recorded in Orissa from 1 March 2000 to 1
May 2004, charge sheets have been
submitted in only 2,518 cases. While five
persons have been convicted of such
charges during 2000, four have been
convicted in 2001 and one each in 2002
and 2003. Due to the unwillingness of the
State to deliver justice, impunity has been
a common feature of the massacres of the
Dalits whether at Kumher of Rajasthan on
6 June 1992 or at Laxmanpur Bathe of
Bihar on 1 and 2 December 1997.
The Adivasis, indigenous peoples , who
are also termed as Scheduled Tribes face
discrimination in the administration of
justice, land alienation, forced evictions etc.
They have also been disproportionate
victims of the development process
undertaken in the country. Yet, nothing is
more starkly clear than the fact that each
monsoon (May-August), thousands of
indigenous peoples die from Maharashtra to
Tripura due to lack of medical facilities and
malnutrition. Each year, only the statistics
on the number of tribals’ death increase
without any effective measures to
ameliorate their conditions.
In a country where the Gross National
Product depends on the agricultural sector
that is totally dependent on the monsoon,
the farmers have been facing tremendous
difficulties. While hundreds have
committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh, the
Rajasthan government slapped National
Security Act against Hetram Beniwal,
Vallabh Kochher and Saheb Ram Punia of
the Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangarsh
Samiti to suppress the movement of the
farmers for more water.
Prison conditions remain poor
whether in Rajasthan and Jammu and
Kashmir. In Barmer district jail of
Rajashthan, there were neither female staff
to deal with female prisoners nor did
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