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Government must ensure rights of minorities, Dalits: NHRC

Taking a serious view of rising atrocities against minorities and Dalits, the National Human Rights Commission yesterday directed the government to ensure that their rights are adequately protected.

Addressing a press briefing in New Delhi, NHRC member and former chief justice of Kerala high court Justice V S Malimath said instead of holding a ''debate on religious conversions'', a national debate guaranteeing the rights of the minorities, Dalits and other oppressed classes should be held.

He said the Jhabua nuns rape case, the burning of religious institutions of minorities in the Dangs district of Gujarat and the murder of a missionary and his two children in Keonjhar district of Orissa were not isolated incidents. They actually indicated a rising trend of violation of the human rights of minorities and the growth of religious intolerance in the country. This was cause for national concern, he said.

The Constitution has guaranteed religious freedom to minorities, and even conversions are not prohibited under it, Justice Malimath said, pointing out that under article 25 of the Constitution citizens were given the right to propagate their religion.

Expressing shock at the killing of 21 Dalits in Jehanabad district of Bihar on Monday, he said such attacks were also on the increase, especially in Bihar, and no effective steps seemed to have been taken to curb it.

Taking suo moto cognisance of the massacre, the NHRC yesterday issued show cause notices to the state chief secretary and director general of police, asking them to file a reply within two weeks. The Bihar government has also been asked to take immediate steps to investigate the massacre and bring the guilty to book, he said.

Justice Malimath said a team from the commission would visit Bihar soon to hold a public hearing to assess the human rights scenario in the state.

Earlier, taking suo moto cognisance of the burning of the Australia-born missionary and his two sons, the commission issued show cause notices to the Orissa, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh governments and directed them to respond within two weeks.

A notice has also been issued to Union Home Secretary B P Singh, directing the government to take immediate steps to ensure that such incidents do not recur since it was the Centre's responsibility to protect the rights of minorities.

Justice Malimath clarified that the government had not asked the NHRC to investigate the attack on Christians as reported in a section of the media.

The NHRC team, led by Director-General (Investigation) Karthikeyan, which has been sent to Orissa to make an on-the-spot investigation, would return in a day or two. Remedial action and confidence-building measures would be taken after its report was assessed, he said.

UNI

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