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NHRC takes up case of Punjab's 'missing citizens'

The relatives of people who "disappeared" after being taken into custody by the security forces in Punjab inched forward in their long march for justice Thursday.

National Human Rights Commission Chairman Justice J S Verma directed NHRC senior counsel R Venkatramiah to present all particulars of all people mentioned in the still-confidential 1996 Central Bureau of Investigation report by March 21.

According to the report many of the missing persons were "secretly cremated".

Justice Verma and other members of the commission were hearing a writ petition on the case filed by the Committee for Information and Initiative on Punjab against the state of Punjab.

CIIP is investigating allegations of abuses by various government agents against citizens in Punjab and to provide a voice and legal redress to those families, who have had their relatives 'abducted' by state forces.

The CBI report, presumably based on the examination of three crematoria in Amritsar, found 2097 illegal cremations - 585 identified , 274 partially identified and 1238 unidentified.

The Supreme Court had in December, 1996, mandated the NHRC to examine and determine all the issues, including compensation, which arise from the disclosure of "flagrant violations of human rights on a mass scale" by the CBI's report.

The NHRC 's order of January 13 restricted the inquiry to Amritsar and to the cremations mentioned in the CBI's report. The commission has received only 65 valid claims.

The Punjab government has divided these cases into two lists. The list called Annexure C comprises 18 claims, which it proposes to settle by offering Rs 100,000 each. The government claims it is doing so "without going into merits of the complaints and without admitting any liability". The second list, Annexure B, contains 44 claims, which the government is disputing on various grounds.

Ram Narayan Kumar, convenor, Committee for Coordination of Disappearances in Punjab, of which the petitioner CIIP is a part, told rediff.com, "We contented that the scope of the inquiry should be expanded beyond Amritsar as a large number of people in the CBI report are unidentified and can be from other parts of the state."

But the NHRC rejected that contention.

However it did grant certain concessions to the petitioners. Says Kumar, "We contended that the commission issue orders directing that full particulars of the all persons mentioned in the CBI's report be supplied to the petitioners and that has been granted."

Kumar adds, "We also contended that in the case of custodial killing of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, Rs 1 million was granted as compensation to his wife. We also wanted that the compensation for others should not be fixed at Rs 100,000 by the Punjab government."

This too was considered by the commission and Justice Verma said, "The determination of the quantum of compensation will be done at one time after the scrutiny of all cases."

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