Issue Guidelines For Lockdown Without Violating Rights: NHRC To Centre

The NHRC on Wednesday asked the Centre to issue an advisory to all States & UTs to enforce the lockdown without violating the human rights.

New Delhi| On Wednesday, the NHRC asked the Central govt to issue an advisory to the states and Union Territories to inform public servants to behave sensibly with those belonging to vulnerable sections of the society.

The National Human Rights Commission took notice of a message from one of its Special Monitors and human rights activist, Maja Daruwala, claiming that in order to effectively enforce the lockdown, public servants, including police personnel, across the nation tend to deal with the people, especially the ill-informed poor labourers, in a very harsh manner threatening their rights.

“A response is expected at the earliest,” Commission added.

Ms Daruwala wrote that the policemen were doing numerous “good things” and the recent incident of a policeman’s hand being cut off while implementing the lockdown in Punjab was “unforgivable”, the panel said.

At the same time, those policemen who were “using this time to be cruel and harsh must be stopped,” she added.

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“Allegedly, those who are illiterate and less informed, mainly the poor labourers and daily wages workers etc., are facing extreme difficulties due to shortage of food and other facilities for themselves and their families. These people could be asked to stay off the streets with some degree of compassion instead of being cruel and abusive using extreme force,” the National Human Rights Commission said.

The National Human Rights Commission had earlier also taken cognizance of a complaint raising the issue of an alleged violation of human rights of the people suffering from mental illness during the lockdown.