Reg.No.

: DELENG/2004/12595
Post Reg. No. DL (S)-18/3039/2004-05-06

(A Monthly Publication of Manavadhikar Samajik Manch)

Volume III No. 10 October 2006 Rs. 10/-
President : Dr. A. Shanker Patron : Sandeep Dikshit, MP (Lok Sabha)
Editor : Dr. Girija B. Nanda Advisors: Maurice Kujur, Former MP
Bejon Mishra
Editorial Team : Debasish De
Manoj Kar
Kamal Kumar Gaur
Rajat K. Kujur UP Chapter
Dr. Virender Khatana Dr. Narendra Kumar, State Convenor
Reporters : S. Maheswar 6/348, Ramnath Deoria, Deoria - 274001
Swarup Panigrahi Uttar Pradesh - 274001
Phone :0-9415320183
Programme
Coordinator : Lalatendu Mishra Orissa Chapter
Office Secretary : Ms. Meeta Halder Umakanta Nanda, Adv, State Convenor
Gandarpur, P.O. -College Square,
Legal Advisor : Ms. Kumud L. Das
Cuttack, Orissa - 753003
Jitendra Mahapatra Phone : 0671-2441528, 09437041528
Content & Graphic
Consultant
Maharashtra Chapter
: Srimoy Patra
Victor Freitas, State Convenor
Graphic Designer : S.K. Nayak Room No. 422, Akash Wani, Aamdar Niwas,
Edited, Printed and Mumbai - 400 032
Published by : Dr. Girija B. Nanda Phone :022-22022383, 09820779860

Human Touch
(A Monthly Publication of Manavadhikar Samajik Manch)

Human Touch is a platform for non-partisan portrayal of human rights issues in their different forms. Be it the
rights of the weaker sections of our population such as the women, the children, the aged and the physically
challenged, or the victims of some social customs, cultural traditions and economic & non-economic policies, the
publication brings out the issues objectively and in a manner that would give succour to the people whose rights
are either violated or put in jeopardy.

Human Touch acts as a forum for scholars, activists, concerned individuals and the common men & women
to ventilate their grievances, express their views and to highlight cases of human rights violations, so that
appropriate ameliorative actions can be taken by the concerned agencies. It is meant to help the helpless and
to speak for those whose voices are not heard. It engages in constructive and incisive debate on issues that
are not only of day-to-day concern but also on issues that are important for posterity. This publication is a step
forward in realising the vision of Manavadhikar Samajik Manch, i.e. creation of a just and equitable
society.

Owner : Manavadhikar Samajik Manch

Publisher/Printer/Editor : Dr. Girija B. Nanda
Printed at : Matha Offset Press, Y-16, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II, New Delhi
Published from: Manavadhikar Samajik Manch, 198, 3rd Floor, Sant Nagar, New Delhi - 110065
Tel.: 91-11-41621978, 32453723, Fax : 41621669
E-mail: officemail.masm@gmail.com, manavadhikar.india@indiatimes.com, masm@rediffmail.com
Website: www.manavadhikar.net, www.humanrightsnews.net
 Contents
Threat to Life: 6
Dangerous Levels of Toxins in Toys

The Politics of Terrorism: 9

Afzal, Parliament and Human Rights

76 Dalit Families Attacked and Ransacked at Jind in Haryana: 13

A NCDHR Fact Finding Report

National Human Rights Update 15

International Human Rights Update 18

Interview with Mr. M. Ravikant, IAS: 21

Secretary, Delhi Minorities Commission talks to Human Touch

Status of Indian Women: 23

Concern over Right and Development

Expanding the Concept of Human Rights: 26

Raising Concerns Over Diminishing Practice of Breastfeeding

Plight of Orphan Girls in Doda: 30

A Classic Case of Missing State Responsibility

Story of A Struggle: 33
A Gujarati Muslim Woman’s Struggle for Justice

Sundargarh: 35
The Home Ground for Slavery

Adoption: 38
Need of Stronger Guidelines & Safer Legal Validation

Human Rights Violation: 40

 From the President’s Desk …
One of the most painful realities in the post-independent India has been the deliberate distortion of the legacies and
greatness of Mahatma Gandhi. Mostly it has become a trend with the new generation Indians to question the
relevance of Gandhi, where as the older generation routinely thinks of Gandhi only on his birth and death anniversary.
We Indians have completely omitted Gandhi and his teachings from all parts of our life and life style. It has
become a fashion to blame Gandhi for his failure in preventing partition; similarly he is being laughed at because
he failed to make Congress a party of his vision.

His detractors must remember that Gandhi was no ordinary politician for which he is being blamed. The real
Gandhi was the sage whose intuitive insights identified issues that make him so relevant today. There are several
Gandhian ideals, which deserve special attention. There was his republics. Gandhi also had a vision of creating
party less democracy. He proposed the idea of trusteeship in industry to reform capitalism. Had the government
actually followed these ideas, there might have emerged a genuine alternative to the present global trends.

In a world with increasing terrorist attacks Gandhian ideal of nonviolence has become imperative then ever
before. People and nations fighting against terrorism must understand that non-violence does not preclude the use
of legitimate force by governments pursuing a just cause. One may recall that Gandhi condoned use of the army
when the Pakistan raiders attacked Kashmir. However, non-violence does imply the government’s readiness to
engage in dialogue without preconditions with any group espousing any cause if it abjures violence. Few governments
are prepared to actually do this and if actually modern governments adhere to this principle of Gandhi then I am
sure there will be lesser cases of human rights violation.

Absolute Power corrupts absolutely, and in the post independent India we all Indians have experienced this in
some time or the other. Gandhi’s dream of making every village self-sufficient implied extreme devolution of
power. Self-rule is the foundation of genuine democracy. That comes from well-demarcated division of power
among the different levels of a federal system. All the talk about rural development would become meaningful
only when the government would transfer appropriate law and order powers to the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
We say Indian democracy a vibrant democracy but in the era of coalition governments we have seen numerous
breakdown of India’s party system. Political blackmail and horse-trading have become inseparable part of the
working of multi party democracy in India. Given the situation Gandhi’s concept of partyless democracy might
sound too drastic, but every one rational would agree that a serious reappraisal is overdue of the system and its
time that all parties must seek a consensual solution and remedy.

Gandhi’s trusteeship idea could revolutionize industry. Inspired by this idea, the concept of a Workers’ Sector to
compete with the public and private sectors was mooted. Given the newfound rapacity of big business, might
this not lead to a future remedy?

If the government is serious about reviving Gandhian values in our public life, these are but a few ideas that might
be considered. Enacting the Dandi March, or insistence on khadi, reduces Gandhian values to farce unflinching
commitment to non-violence. During the Independence Day celebrations I was painfully surprised to watch a TV
programme where many of our Member of Parliaments failed to say the full name of Rashtrapita Mahatma
Gandhi. Gandhi cannot be a man of past and for this while paying tribute to Gandhiji on his birth anniversary we
at Manavadhikar Samajik Manch also welcome the attempt made by the Director and Actors of ‘Lage Raho
Munna Bhai’ for their novel attempt to popularize and update the concept of Gandhigiri.
Dr. A. Shankar

Vol. III No.10 October 2006 5


Dangerous Levels of Toxins in Toys
Soft PVC toys threatening young ones with dangerous levels of lead, cadmium; Says new research
by Toxics Link based on sample studies from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai.
D
angerous levels of lead and cad
mium have been found in Poly
vinyl Chloride (PVC) and soft
toys being sold in markets under a sci-
entific study by Toxics Link, an envi-
ronmental non-governmental
organisation, indicating that children
are being exposed to severe health
hazards caused by these metals rang-
ing from liver damage to disruption in
mental growth.
Lead as a source has mostly been
studied in aerosols or atmosphere or
in paints. Toys, particularly soft toys,
which are intimately linked to
children’s environment, have not been
investigated as one of the possible
sources of lead, cadmium and other
heavy metals exposure to children.
Moreover, India now produces and
imports a wide range of toys, namely
plastic and mechanical activity toys,
plastic and soft dolls, stuffed
toys, board games, puzzles,
educational games and toys,
metal and tin toys, electronic
toys and games. The unor-
ganized sector dominates the
toy manufacturing industry.
“Since a large number of
toys, mostly made of PVC,
are imported into India,
cheaply, or are made in the
informal sector, with little or
no quality control, it was
important and appropriate to
examine the issue of lead and
cadmium in toys. It is com-
mon to see small children and
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
Threat to Life:
infants chew and play with soft plas-
tic toys, which are the subject of this
investigation,” said Ravi Agarwal, Di-
rector, Toxics Link.
The Study
The samples of toys were collected
from the three metropolitan cities of
India viz. Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.
These cities were identified for the
sample selection, as they are one of
India’s largest manufacturer and sup-
ply centres for unbranded toys to their
surrounding sub-urban and rural ar-
eas. In fact, Mumbai and Delhi alone
account for nearly 95 per cent of the
toy production in India.
6
All the toy samples were then tested
for PVC, lead and cadmium in gov-
ernment accredited laboratory in Delhi.
Of 111 toy samples tested, 77 were
found to be made up of PVC materi-
als. A total of 88 samples (77 PVC and
non-PVC) were further analysed for
lead and cadmium. Pb (lead) and Cd
(cadmium) are found to be present in
all tested samples in varying concen-
tration. Thus the study establishes that
Indian unbranded PVC toys do con-
tain lead and cadmium.
The overall average concentrations of
lead and cadmium are 112.51 ppm and
15.71 ppm respectively. The range for
lead concentration in tested samples
was 2104ppm to 0.65 ppm. For cad-
mium, the range was from 0.016 ppm
to 188 ppm. Concentration of Pb in
Delhi samples varies from 0.65 ppm
to 121.8 ppm with an average of 27.8
ppm. Concentration of Cd is
generally high in samples
from Delhi is found to be low
in the samples brought from
Mumbai and Chennai.
Forty-three out of 60 toy
samples purchased from
Delhi tested positive for
PVC, while all toy samples
purchased from Mumbai
tested positive for PVC. Eight
samples (close to 30 per
cent) from Mumbai con-
tained more than US CPSC
(Consumer Product Safety
Commission) standard of
200 ppm of lead in vinyl
blinds. 5 Samples (close to 20 per
cent) had more than 600 ppm of lead,
which is the limit set by US EPA (En-
vironmental Protection Agency) for
painted toys.
Toxicity of PVC
Toys made up of PVC (Polyvinyl
Chloride) are a potential source of risks
to children. Polyvinyl Chloride is a
polymer or large chain-like molecule,
made up of repeating units of Vinyl
Chloride (a monomer), commonly re-
ferred to as Vinyl or PVC. PVC has a
special problem of auto-digestion. Free
hydrogen radicals and free chlorine
radicals react to
form Hydrochloric
Acid (HCl), which
leads to a complete
loss of strength.
Lead or cadmium is
added into PVC as
stabilizers to prevent
the free chlorine radi-
cals from reacting
with hydrogen radi-
cals to form HCl.
Lead compounds are
the most common
stabilizers in PVC.
Some of them are;
basic lead carbonate,
lead stearate, basic
lead stearate, tribasic
lead stearate, basic
(dibasic) lead stear-
ate, and basic lead phthalate. Phtha-
late esters are added to PVC to make
it soft and pliable. Phthalate are also
known to cause liver damage. Lead
and cadmium are also added into PVC
or other plastic products as colouring
agents in form of organo-metallic com-
pounds. Moreover, PVC is a chemi-
cally dependent material.
“However, these additives leach from
the PVC and contaminate our bodies,
putting especially children at risk. We
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
need to shift to safer materials that are
non-toxics for products like toys,” said
Dr Abhay Kumar, Senior Programme
Officer, Chemicals and Health.
Health Impact of Lead and Cad-
mium
Lead and cadmium are known poisons,
being neurotoxins and nephrotoxins,
respectively. Neurotoxins are agents
that can cause toxic effects on the
nervous system while nephrotoxins
are agents that can cause toxic effects
on the kidney. Physicians and scien-
tists agree that no level of lead in blood
is safe or normal. The disturbing fact
is that exposure to extremely small
amounts can have long-term and mea-
surable effects in children while at the
same time causing no distinctive
symptoms. Another problem of lead
exposure is it being cumulative in na-
ture. After lead is absorbed into blood,
some of it is filtered out and excreted,
but the rest is distributed in the liver,
brain, kidneys and bones. What’s more
disturbing is what happens when lead
gets into the bones. Bone stores lead
and stay there for decades. It can re-
7
enter the body when bone breaks
down as part of a regular metabolic
process or due to some specific
physiological conditions like os-
teoporosis, causing re-exposure.
Exposure Pathways
The chewing and swallowing
behaviour of children is a common
source of lead and cadmium exposure.
However, swallowing is not even nec-
essary for exposure. Simply chewing
and sucking on plastic cables is a
known source of lead poisoning. Lead
and cadmium contaminated dust is
another source of exposure and is es-
pecially dangerous as
it can enter into the
body in multiple
ways. Routes of in-
gestion include lick-
ing, sucking, mouth-
ing, inhalation and
hand-to-mouth
behaviour. Another
source of exposure
to lead and cadmium
can be the toxic dust
released during the
degradation of vinyl
children’s products.
So a child may si-
multaneously be ex-
posed to toxic met-
als like Pb and Cd
through various
sources. A standard
or regulation for an individual product
based on its risk assessment may not
match with the reality.
Indian Standards
It is estimated that the toy industry is
worth 1.5 billion dollars in the
unorganised sector and soft toys made
of PVC account for 35 per cent of
India’s total production. However,
there are no legal and binding stan-
dards that stipulate the safe limits of
the heavy metal contents in toys (plas-
 The Way Ahead
Asserting that this pioneering study
was taken up with the idea of draw-
ing attention of policymakers and re-
searchers alike, Ravi Agarwal said,
“We hope this study, will help trigger
off larger investigations both in the
amounts of heavy metals as well as
the exposure they cause to children.
We have been specifically research-
ing and working on areas of migra-
tion of heavy metals like lead and cad-
mium in vegetables, as well as use of
mercury in various sectors like light-
ing, chlor alkali, health care and tradi-
tional medicines.”
Some worrying indicators:
tic or otherwise), locally manufactured · India has no enforceable stan-
or imported. The issue of safety is left dards for lead, cadmium and
largely up to the manufacturers dis- other toxic metals permissible
cretion and judgment. The Indian stan- in toys
dard is with respect to bio-availability · Toys, particularly soft PVC
of lead and cadmium, which is only toys, which are intimately
voluntary in nature. linked to children’s environ-
ment, have not been investi-
Preventive Approaches gated as one of the possible
India as a state must provide safe en- sources of lead, cadmium and
vironment to children so that they are other heavy metals exposure to
not exposed to toxic chemicals. As children.
discussed earlier this can only be · It is estimated that the industry
achieved by implementing a robust volume is 1.5 billion dollars in
regulatory mechanism and a preven- the unorganised sector.
tive approach. The presence of heavy · Soft toys, mostly made of
metals like lead and cadmium in toys PVC, account for 35 per cent
poses equally damaging threat to the of India’s total production of
environment as these heavy metals toys.
ultimately end up being locked in soil - HT Bureau
and the air. A poor state of affairs of
solid waste management make this
even more damaging. Burning toxic
toys results in releases of dangerous
toxics like dioxins. PVC is known for
releasing dioxins upon burning. Since
no level of lead and cadmium should
be considered safe in toys and hence
all attempt must be made to replace
materials having toxic potential by
safer materials without heavy metals
or other leachable chemicals.
Vol. III No.10 October 2006 8
About Toxic Link
Toxics Link is an information
outreach and environmental
advocacy organization set up in
1996. Based in Delhi with nodes in
Mumbai and Chennai, Toxics Link,
for over a decade now has been
playing a key role in disseminating
credible information about toxics
in India, and raising the level of
toxics debate. It has a special
emphasis on reaching out to
grassroots groups and community
based organisation. The areas of its
engagements include research,
outreach and policy advocacy on
issues of communities and urban
waste, toxics free healthcare,
hazardous waste and pesticides.
Toxics Link works closely with
community groups and NGOs
working on similar issues and has
been conducive to the formation of
several common platforms for
these issues. It also networks
internationally and is part of
international networks working on
similar issues.
Visit our website at :
www.humanrightsnews.net and
www.manavadhikar.net
for online human rights updates.
 The Politics of Terrorism:
Afzal, Parliament and Human Rights
H
istory is full of instances when
terrorists have tried to justify
their acts in the name of human
rights. Recent turn of events over the
issue of death sentence for
Mohammed Afzal, the man convicted
in the sensational Parliament attack
case, has once again put terrorism and
human rights in the same platform. It
may sound strange, but it’s a fact that
due to our inability to take a clear stand
over several sensitive issues we
ourselves have given birth to many
chronic problems for our motherland.
Political leaders, academicians, writers
and journalists; cross section of
society always find shortage of words
in condemning terrorism yet it’s
disheartening to find that it has been
more then half a century that the
innocent civilian population of this
country are forced to bear the burnt
of terrorism. It’s because our politics
and politicians have not been able to
exercise restraint over
playing politics on
sensitive issues like
terrorism and human
rights. It has been
exposed in the
ongoing controversy
Md. Afzal that Politics
in India has lost all
directions and our
leaders are seriously
proving to be failure
in providing a vision
to the country.
Massive protests
continue to rock
Kashmir valley over
the death sentence to
Afzal Guru. It’s an
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
issue, which has substantially
polarized the public opinion. While
political leaders across party lines in
Kashmir have appealed for clemency,
there are no clear signs of where Delhi
will go. Perhaps for the first time,
every party in the Kashmir valley is
on the same side of the debate. On the
other hand, at the time of writing this
article over thirty separatists were
detained and Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali
Shah Geelani was placed under house
arrest as protests over upcoming
execution of Mohammad Afzal in a
Parliament attack case rocked
Kashmir valley. Chairman of the
Hurriyat Conference hardline faction,
who was scheduled to visit Afzal’s
9
- Rajat Kumar Kujur
Sopore residence, was placed under
house arrest as a precautionary
measure. Thirty more separatists,
mostly owing allegiance to the hardline
faction, were also taken into preventive
custody.
This article is an attempt to look back
in to the whole case of attack on
Parliament. There are larger issues like
the issue of human rights, terrorism,
capital punishment and criminal justice
system that are associated with this
issue. It is very difficult to address all
these issues in a single article hence I
have raised important questions over
the whole issue and leave it to our
esteemed readers to decide.
Politics over Terrorism
Terrorism, not counter terrorism has
been the popular word in the dictionary
of our politicians. So when the legal
institutions of this country have
confirmed the death
sentence for Md.
Afzal how could our
ever-vocal political
parties keep quiet?
Given the fragile
ground situation at
Kashmir valley it was
expected that the
verdict was bound to
create ripple but
certainly it was not
expected that our
leaders who take oath
in the name of
constitution would
behave so irrationally.
Look at the following
statements and I am
sure you would find
 Following is the chronology of events in the Parliament attack case, in which of capital punishment? I am sure most
the designated court on Wednesday awarded death sentence to three. This is political parties would find it difficult
the first case under POTA where capital punishment was imposed. to answer these questions. However,
the questions are not so difficult to
Dec 13, 2001: Five Pakistani terrorists attack Parliament house. Nine security answer and we would try to find the
personnel killed, 16 other injured. answers once we look into the position
Dec 14, 2001: India asks Pakistan to act against LeT, JeM of our political parties.
Dec 15, 2001: Police arrest Delhi University lecturer S A R Geelani, Md
Afzal, Shaukat Hussain and his wife Navjot Sandhu. A laptop and Rs. 10 Mehbooba Mufti: Sentence could
Lakh recovered from Afzal and Shaukat in Srinagar affect J&K peace process
Dec 16, 2001: The then Delhi police Chief Ajai Raj Sharma says Pakistan
supervised the Attack, Pakistan calls for joint probe. “This is something we had anticipated
Dec 18, 2001: Home Minister L K Advani blames ISI for the attack. PM when the pronouncement was made
Vajpayee rejects call for Joint probe. some months back, and in fact even
Dec 19, 2001: Pakistan rejects Advani’s charge, demands evidence. at that point of time when I had the
Dec 22, 2001: Md Afzal, Shaukat Hussain and S A R Geelani confirm their occasion to meet the Prime Minister I
confessional Statements recorded by DCP special cell had taken up the issue,” said Peoples
Dec 24, 2001: US, UK, EU issue demarche to Pakistan, demand ban on Democratic Party President Mehbooba
LeT, JeM. Mufti, “I told him that on one hand
Dec 25, 2001: JeM Chief Masood Azhar arrested in Pakistan, LeT, Tameer- the peace process is going on and we
e-Nau bank accounts frozen. are trying to win the hearts and minds
Apr 01, 2002: JeM Chief Maulana Masood Azhar, its Chief Commander in of the people of Kashmir – and this
Jammu and Kashmir Ghazi Baba and his close aide Tariq Ahmad declared kind of judgment can have a very
proclaimed offenders. negative impact on the whole situation
May 14, 2002: Chargesheet filed in the case against Afzal, Shaukat, his wife and things can get worse. I had
Afsan, Geelani, Azhar, Ghazi Baba and Tariq. appealed to him on humanitarian
Jun 04, 2002: Special Court frames charges. All the accused plead not grounds – Afzal is a young boy and
guilty. his parents are very old. I said there
Jul 08, 2002: Trial begins under POTA. should be mercy shown or some kind
Jul 11, 2002: Special judge rules telephonic intercepts are admissible in of review of the judgment,” Mufti
evidence. said.
Jul 25, 2002: Geelani and Afsan challenge Special Court Ruling in Delhi
High Court. Sajjad Lone, Peoples Conference:
Oct 30, 2002: Delhi High Court upholds their plea and quashes trial court Sentence has political overtones.
order on telephonic intercepts. “Forget about protests. We’re in a
Nov 25, 2002: Special judge reserves order in the case. After completion of dialogue process; there is a moderate
final arguments and fixes December 11, 2002 for pronouncement of judgment. element in the state of J&K which
Dec 16, 2002: Court holds all the four accused guilty. really wants to uncover some areas
Dec 17, 2002: Court hears arguments on quantum of sentence: prosecution of commonality between the Indian
seeks death penalty while accused plead leniency. state and the state of Jammu and
Dec 18, 2002: Court awards death penalty to Afzal, Shaukat and Geelani but Kashmir. And yet now you come up
five years RI on Afshan. and try to put forth a face bereft of
any moral dimension, and want to
hang a person at a time when we all
want an era of reconciliation. It is not
it difficult to answer why do we claim are fighting; for the protection of the hanging of an individual; it has
of waging war against terrorism? human rights or for the protection of political overtones. And I think this is
Another question that would seem a proven guilty terrorist or against the an opportunity for them (Government)
equally difficult for any common man evils of terrorism? Do the political to present a moral dimension of the
to answer is what for our politicians parties take a stand over the question Indian state. There have been instances

Vol. III No.10 October 2006 10


of clemency in the past as well, this
wouldn’t be the first time that the
President would pardon someone
convicted by the Supreme Court,”
said Sajjad Ghani Lone, leader of a
faction of J&K People’s Conference.
Hurriyat leader Bilal Lone: The
sentence shows the Government’s
arrogance.
“This is the arrogance of power
shown by the Government of India.
You will observe that this news broke
after the PM returned from his meeting
Pakistan Preseident Pervez Musharraf
in Havana – this means they are trying
to show the Kashmiris their power,”
said Hurriyat leader Bilal Lone.
BJP President Rajnath Singh: Govt
is not serious on terrorism
“The way things are going, the kind
of demands being made by the
Congress one gets the feeling that this
government is not serious in combating
terrorism; it is just too soft,” said BJP
President Rajnath Singh.
Left Parties
The execution of the verdict would
make matters worse in the state,
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP)
Member of Parliament Abani Roy said,
“Life imprisonment with vigorous
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
imprisonment is Azad’s plea for clemency for Afzal has
enough. It is magnified into a major political
unnecessary to kill controversy with the BJP seeking to
the person. How pin down the UPA government on the
many would you issue of national security and the
kill?” Congress seeking to distance itself
from Azad’s view.
Chief Minister
Ghulam Nabi Need For a self-retrospection:
Azad’s appeals At a time when the whole of humanity
Prime Minister has become the target of the terrorism
Manmohan Singh it’s quite unfortunate that in India the
for clemency issue of terrorism is still being viewed
The Congress has within the purview of electoral politics.
said that it neither In a democracy elections do play a
endorsed nor major role in determining the country’s
rejected Azad’s stand and skirted future but it cannot supersede issues
queries on whether the Chief Minister pertaining the national security.
had “erred” in writing to the Prime
Minister on the issue. “I am neither Similarly, human rights and protection
endorsing, nor rejecting what the Chief of human rights are the driving words
Minister has said. It will be one of the for today’s civil society. Even then
inputs in the decision-making process. there is an urgent need to take a
Congress has noted the proposal,” said cautious approach. Of course human
Abhishek Singhvi, Congress rights cannot be sacrificed but we
spokesman.” As far as we are must find ways to determine the scope
concerned, you have to allow of human rights. We say terrorism is
established procedures to take care. the greatest enemy of human rights
These are matters which are in the so can we protect terrorists under the
exclusive domain of the President, and plea of human rights violation?
it is not for anyone else to opine or
decide”, Singhvi said. Everyone would agree that in
11

comparison to our neighbors we have
a well-defined constitution and also
there is an operational criminal justice
system in this country. Yet there are
several cases where different organs
of the Government are alleged of
stepping into the shoe of the other
organ. Recently the politicians were
making hue and cry over the issue of
judiciary and legislature supremacy. Of
course, the judiciary cannot and
should not venture in to the scope of
legislature, but do these politicians
would mind to answer why they are
stepping into the scope of the President
and why the issue of Afzal is being
politicized? Why can’t they allow law
to take it’s own course? Afzal and his
family has a legitimate right to appeal
for Presidential clemency, it’s well
within the scope of human rights but
it’s a shame on Indian democracy that
when there is an urgent need of putting
a joint fight against the mighty terrorist
network our political representatives
are fighting over the issue of life and
death of a terrorist. I want to remind
them what happened in Rubbiya Saeed
Case? What was the result of Kandhar
compromise? To declare Kashmir an
inseparable part of India is something
different and to believe in it is
something different. I don’t say by
Afzal’s hanging terrorism will come
to an end but I strongly believe that
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
time has come that
we must put a
brave fight against
the evils of
terrorism.
Kashmir is burning
since decades so is
the northeastern
part of the country.
Red terror has
emerged as the
single largest threat
to country’s
internal security
and these are testing times when the
democratic institutions of this country
must think beyond their own interest.
We all must strive for the protection
of national interest and universal
human rights.
With most political parties, both
separatist and mainstream are on the
same side on Afzal’s mercy petition,
his future has now created a disturbing
gap between the political opinion in
Kashmir valley and in New Delhi.
What happens next could have huge
impact on the situation on the ground
in the valley. However before taking a
stand every one concerned must bear
in their mind that Afzal is punished
because of his involvement in a crime
against the nation which killed several
people and not just because he is from
Kashmir. Government of India can
consider pardoning Afzal only on
humanitarian grounds. But to argue
that Afzal should be pardoned because
this could affect the peace process in
Kashmir, expose the farsightedness of
our leaders and is nothing other than a
political gimmick. Certainly it is
irrational to view this issue through the
prism of the peace process. We
Indians should not allow the separatist
and terrorist forces to blackmail our
India in the name of peace process.
- HT Bureau
12
Who is Mohammad Afzal?
The man that the Indian politicians
(both Kashmiri and mainstream)
seem to be taking sides is a
dangerous and diabolical
mastermind whose aim was to
strike at the heart of India’s
democracy. On December13,
2001, democracy was the target
of a potentially catastrophic strike
by Jaish-e-Mohammed militants.
As investigations progressed, it
turned out that Mohammed Afzal
Guru was the mastermind behind
the diabolical plot. As the kingpin,
he not only facilitated the entry of
the JeM militants, but also gave
them all the logistical support to
help them plan the daring attack.
Afzal was not alone in the
conspiracy; three others were
implicated by the police in this case
- Shaukat Hussain Guru, Afshan
Guru and Prof SAR Geelani.
Shaukat and Afzal had been found
guilty, while Prof Geelani and
Afshan Guru were acquitted by the
court. Shaukat Hussain’s death
sentence, awarded by the Delhi
High Court, has now been
commuted by the Apex Court to
ten years imprisonment.
Visit our website at :
www.humanrightsnews.net and
www.manavadhikar.net
for online human rights updates.
76 Dalit Families Attacked and Ransacked at Jind in Haryana:
A NCDHR Fact Finding Report
K
illa Jafargadh is a small village,
in Jind District in the State of
Haryana. It is situated about 120
kilometers away from the National
Capital, New Delhi. The Village has
got a Dalit population of 200 Dalit
families. It witnessed a caste rivalry
between Dalits and the dominant caste
‘Jats’, culminating into mass exodus
of Dalits, severely injuring 14 Dalits,
which includes 2 Women, ransacking
76 Dalit houses and also burning of a
large number of houses. On 1 st
September 2006, a violent mob of
about 150 to 200 Jats armed with
spears, batons, and other sharp- edged
weapons went on a maddening spree
injuring 14 Dalits and ransacked 76
houses belonging to a particular Dalit
caste ‘Dhanaks’ and ‘Chamar’.
Details of the Incident and the
Role of the Police and District
Administration.
On 31, August, 2006 one Dalit named,
Attar Singh, S/o, Rishal Singh aged
about 45 years, a resident of Harijan
Basti, organized a religious ceremony
popularly known as ‘Mata Ka
Jagran’ with the help of 10-
15 dalit families. Jagran
ceremony started at around 9
P.M in the evening.
At around 10 PM, despite
objection Ten to Fifteen youth
from the dominant caste ‘Jats’
community, entered and sat
along with the Dalit women.
The dominant caste youth
demanded for a show
supposed to be performed by
the Orchestra Party which
was specially called from
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
Sonipat for singing religious songs.
They also teased and pulled clothes of
some of the girls belong to the Dalit
community. Elderly persons from the
Dalit community objected and tried
their best to stop all this.
At the place of religious ceremony
itself the dominant caste youth started
throwing stones and brick on the Dalit
women injuring some of the Dalits.
Therefore, this religious ceremony
was abruptly stopped and Attar Singh
immediately called the Police. Seeing
the Police the dominant caste youth
ran away. In the presence of Police,
the religious ceremony again was
started and went on peacefully.
On 01.09.06 at around 7.30 pm, the
‘Jats’ of the village switched off the
Village light and a violent mob of 150
13
to 200 Jats armed with spears, batons,
and other sharp- edged weapons went
on a maddening spree injuring 14
Dalits and ransacking 76 houses
belonging to a particular Dalit caste
‘Dhanaks’ and ‘Chamar ’. They
ransacked damaging their household
items such as Fridge, Television, Air
Cooler, House hold Utensils and other
vessels in the Dalit houses. It is also
alleged that valuables have been looted
from the dalit houses. Even food
grains and cattle’s were not spared.
Police came two hours after the
incident and took the injured Dalits to
Julana Civil Hospital. Despite the utter
pain and agony of the Dalits, they were
not medically treated in the Julana Civil
Hospital and were referred to the
P.G.M, Rohtak Hospital.
On 02.09.06 three of the Dalits namely
Om Prakash, Suresh and Rampal were
taken to the P.G.M, Rohtak, Hospital.
Later 11 injured Dalits were taken to
the P.G.M, Rohtak.
After lodging complain, a case
was registered by the Police
under Section 148, 149,
323,452,307,427,436,506
IPC and 3 and 4 of SC/ST
ACT 1989
That 32 Jats have been
arrested so far and many
other accused persons are still
absconding.
Fearing retaliation/threats
from the dominant Jat
community, Dalits in the
Harizan Basti started fleeing

from their houses in search of security
to their kith and kin of the neighboring
places like Sonepat, Panipat from 02
September 2005 onwards.
NCDHR Fact Finding Team
Observation
The team found that it was a very well-
planned attack on the Dalit houses as
the attackers knew it very well that
there would not be any retaliation from
Dalits. The manner in which houses
have been ransacked, valuables looted
other useful items destroyed and finally
the burning of the houses reveals a
pattern which was aimed at destroying
everything in front of their eyes.
The fact finding team also found that
inaction by the Police and the
Administration led to free hand of
ransacking, looting of Dalit houses in
Killa Jafargadh. Only 7-8 Police
Officials were deployed at the place
of incidence protective measure by the
Police and the Administration.
No proper protection has been
provided to the victims as some of the
villagers revealed that they are still
receiving threats from the Jat
community and also no compensation
provided to the victims.
The claim by the Police and the
Administration that they have arrested
32 persons does not seem to be
satisfactory as other accused persons
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
are moving around freely
in the village and not been
arrested till date. The thrust
seems to be to treat this
incident as a normal case
and the process also cover
up their own lapses and
complicity.
So far no proper
arrangements have been
made to assess the damage
of the property for the Dalit houses
by the District Administration. Some
of the residents of the village revealed
that the SDM have wrongly assessed
their property. Neither immediate relief
nor any compensation has been
provided to the Dalit families as per
SC/ SC (POA) Rules 1995.
Legal Gaps
That it is submitted that Section 3 of
the SC/ST ACT 1989 is though
invoked, but the relevant Sub -Section
(x)(xi)(xv) of Section 3 and Section
3(2)(iii)(v) SC/ST (POA) 1989 is not
invoked in the FIR for the reasons best
known to the police officials. No relief
or compensation has been paid to the
victim as on date under Rule 12(4) R/
w ANNEXURE SL.NO.10,11,15,17 of
the SC/ST (POA) RULE 1995.
Similarly, a close look at the FIR
reveals that Section 4 of the SC/ST
(POA) ACT 1989 has been invoked in
the FIR which says of a Public servant
willfully neglects his/her duties
required to be performed by him/her
under this act shall be punishable with
imprisonment for a term which shall
be not less than six months but which
may extend to one year. It is beyond
any one’s imagination why so far no
police official has been prosecuted
under this section since it has been
invoked.
It is also found that some of the
accused persons are still not being
14
arrested by the police authorities and
they are moving freely in the village.
The SDM of the concerned area has
failed to assess the damaged property
in the area.
Our Demands
Along with NCDHR, we demand that
relevant Sub -Section (x) (xi) (xv) of
Section 3 and Section 3(2)(iii)(v) SC/
ST (POA) 1989 be invoked in the FIR.
Immediate relief / Compensation may
be given to the 76 DALIT under Rule
12(4) R/w ANNEXURE
SL.NO.10,11,15,17 of the SC/ST
(POA) RULE 1995 be paid to the
victims immediately. Similarly,
immediate action by the Government
under Section 4 of the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989,
against the Deputy Commissioner, the
Senior Superintendent of Police and
the Deputy Superintendent of Police
and other others for their willful
negligence in providing protection to
Dalits and their property. Immediate
action may be taken by the
Government under Section 3(2)(vii)
of the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989, against the
Director of the PGM ,Rohtak Hospital.
We also plead the government to
provide adequate protection to the
Victims and their family members to
protect them from further harassment
and intimidation. The government
should hand over the case to the CBI
to know the true story behind the
attacks on the Dalit Basti. Finally, a
White Paper by the Central
Government should be tabled in the
winter session of the Parliament on
the growing atrocities, untouchability
and other multiple forms of exclusion
and discrimination faced by Dalits.
- HT Bureau
 National Human Rights Update
Child Labor Law Welcomed, But
Needs Enforcement
The Central
government
has taken a
step forward
by enacting a
law to ban domestic work and some
other forms of labor by children under
age 14. The law goes into effect on
October 10, but to be effective, the
authorities will need to improve upon
their weak enforcement of existing
child labor protections. The new law
covers restaurant and hotel work as
well as domestic labor. However, it
provides no protection for children
aged 14 to 18, who also face
exploitation and abuse by their
employers. This ban on child domestic
labor is a welcome step, but changes
on paper are not enough. If the Indian
authorities are serious about protecting
children from hazardous labor, the state
governments should start prosecuting
abusive employers and rehabilitating
child workers. The law prohibits the
employment of children under age 14
in occupations deemed hazardous, a
list that will now include domestic,
hotel and restaurant work. Under the
law, government officials must
remove and rehabilitate children, and
prosecute employers illegally using
underage children.
(Reuters)
Dengue outbreak kills 38
The dengue
f e v e r
outbreak has
killed 38
people and
infected
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
2,900 several others in the capital, New Spokesperson for Apunba Lup, a
Delhi and five other states. Dengue coalition of some 34 human rights
outbreak began in late August, which organizations in Manipur. Within hours
saw hundreds of people flocking to of their arrests the people of Manipur
hospitals complaining of fever in New began organizing demonstrations to
Delhi and in the states of Uttar call for their immediate and
Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, West unconditional release. Acts of civil
Bengal and Kerala. Health Minister disobedience, led by the brave women
Ambumani Ramadoss said that the of Manipur, continued for the entire
matter is of great concern, but it is six weeks of their detention.
not been declared as an epidemic. (huntingtonews)
There have been 15 deaths and around
Bharti Yadav to appear before
Court on Nov 25
Bharti Yadav,
the elusive key
witness in the
670 cases in Delhi and its surrounding Nitish Katara
areas alone, but the outbreak was not murder case,
as serious as in previous years. was directed
(NDTV) by a Delhi
Court to appear
Human Rights Defenders before it on November 25 for
Released in Manipur recording her statement. The order to
The chief judicial magistrate in this effect was passed by Additional
Manipur, threw out all charges against Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur after
Human Rights Defenders Leitanthem Bharti’s counsel S C Bhuttan gave an
Umakanta Meitei and Yengkokpam undertaking that she will appear before
Langamba Meitei. They have been the court on November 25 for her
released without condition after having testimony in the case. The advocate
been detained for six weeks by has been engaged by Bharti’s maternal
Manipur police. While in custody the uncle Bharat Singh. (NDTV)
two were severely beaten and tortured.
Langamba Meitei (also known as Communal activities growing in
Thabi), the Publicity Secretary for the Orissa
Manipur Threatened Indigenous The Indian
Peoples Society (TIPS), was arrested People’s
in his home early in the morning of Tribunal on
Aug. 23, 2006 and taken to an Communalism
undisclosed location. At 4 a.m. on Aug. in Orissa
24, 2006, Umakanta Meitei’s home released its
was raided by police, and he too was r e p o r t
taken into custody. Umakanta is the expressing
General Secretary of TIPS and concern over
15
communal groups perpetrating
violence, criminal activity, and human
rights violations across the state.
Justice K.K. Usha, former Chief
Justice of the Kerala High Court, led
the tribunal. It was convened by Dr.
Angana Chatterji, Associate Professor
at the California Institute of Integral
Studies, and Advocate Mihir Desai,
Mumbai High Court. The 80-page
report of the Tribunal said Sangh
Parivar group of Hindutva has a visible
presence in 25 of 30 districts in Orissa.
The Sangh Parivar’s cadre in Orissa
currently numbers several million, and
constitutes the largest voluntary effort
in the state. (Indian Catholic)
Death of Afzal Guru will not solve
anything
The court
has given
its verdict
that Afzal
should be
hanged.
Hanging or
e v e n
illegally
eliminating a person is not a big issue;
but hanging of Afzal Guru will become
a major issue even though the
authorities have a ‘legal mandate’ for
doing this. Issue here is not whether
Afzal Guru is completely ‘innocent’
or ‘guilty’; issue is what government
will achieve out of this, especially now
that it has become a public issue, and
demand for clemency is coming from
various parts of the world. Opinion
even inside the country is sharply
divided. Both separatists and main
stream politicians have criticised the
decisions and have a joint struggle at
hand; and that is a campaign for
clemency for Afzal Guru.
(Asian Tribune)
Delhi police arrest Irom Sharmila
Delhi police arrested human rights
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
activist Irom Sharmila Chanu, who is
on a hunger strike against the Armed
Forces (Special Powers) Act. Ms.
Sharmila, who arrived in the capital
from Imphal in the first week of
October, has not taken any food or
water for the past six years in protest
against AFSPA. She was being force-
fed through a nasal drip in Imphal all
this time but managed to come to Delhi
undetected. At the time of her arrest,
her pulse was 47 — compared to the
normal range of 60-80 — and she was
running a temperature. More than 100
police personnel arrested her even as
Manipuri students and other
supporters sang “We shall overcome.”
(The Hindu)
Activist bags Right Livelihood
Award
Indian women’s
rights activist
Ruth Manorama,
a Christian
known for her
contribution in
mainstreaming
Dalit issues, has
been named
among the winners of the ‘alternative
Nobels’, the Right Livelihood Awards
that were announced. She shared the
prize worth $270,000 with Daniel
Ellsberg, a former United States
defence official who leaked secret
Pentagon documents during the
Vietnam War. Manorama got the
honours for her crusade to equality of
Dalit women. The awards will be
16
presented in a ceremony at the
Swedish Parliament on December 8,
two days before the Nobel Prizes are
handed out. Herself from the Dalit
community, Manorama has helped
throw the spotlight on the precarious
situation of Dalit women in India. She
calls them “Dalits among the Dalits.”
Ruth has also contributed enormously
to breaking the upper-class, upper-
caste image of the women’s movement
in India. In 2005, she was one of 1000
nominees for the ‘1000 women for
the Nobel Peace prize’ campaign. Born
in Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Ruth grew
up seeing her parents engaged in active
social work, and developed an early
inclination for the work herself. Her
mother, Dorothy Dhanraj, was
interested in women’s education.
(Indian Catholic)
Justice PN Bhagwati re-elected to
UN human rights committee
Former Chief
Justice of
India Justice
P N Bhagwati
has been re-
elected to the
U n i t e d
Nations
H u m a n
R i g h t s
Committee
for the fourth time. Bhagwati
reportedly scored the second highest
number of votes in a well-contested
election in which 24 candidates fought
for nine positions. The distinguished
jurist has been in the past elected as
Chairman of the Committee for two
terms from 1993 to 2000 besides
having been its Vice-Chairman. He has
carried out several missions for the
United Nations Centre for Human
Rights, the Common Wealth
Secretariat and the International
Commission of Jurists in many
countries.
 Bina Ramani granted bail in
Jessica Lal case
Don’t deviate from
the larger case was
what the court told
police as they
granted Bina Ramani
bail in the Jessica Lal
case. Ramani, considered one of the
prime witnesses in the case has been
charged with the destruction of
evidence. She has been granted bail
on a surety of Rs 2 lakh but has been
asked to surrender her passport.
Ramani will have to report to police
on first Saturday of every month.
Many have argued that the arrest of
Bina Ramani is peripheral to the overall
case where the main accused Manu
Sharma is still scott free. (NDTV)
Rajasthan 4th among states
violating human rights
Rajasthan figures at fourth position
among states accused of violation of
human rights, according to a report.
The report, an analytical study of
human rights in Rajasthan, focused
broadly on civil, political, economic,
social and cultural rights. It said
human rights situation in the state was
far from satisfactory in the last four-
five years. Based on both primary and
secondary data analysis and case
studies on human rights situation in
northern India and other states like
Uttaranchal, Bihar and Chhattisgarh,
the report expressed concern over
sustained attacks on particular
communities in Rajasthan. It said dalits,
tribals and women were the worst
affected. (Zee News)
No let up in Indian Kashmir
rights abuse
Human rights abuses by security
forces and Muslim militants continue
unchecked in Indian Kashmir despite
a three-year-old peace process
between India and Pakistan. Those
abuses continue despite a tentative
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
peace process ... modest confidence-
building measures between India and
Pakistan, and a 2002 election of a state
government with an avowed agenda
to improve the human rights situation,
according to a report. The 156-page
report titled “Everyone Lives In Fear:
Patterns of Impunity in Jammu and
Kashmir” did not say whether abuses
in the Himalayan region had increased
or decreased since the India-Pakistan
peace process started in January 2004.
(Reuters)
Spiral of violence continues in
Assam
The centre claims that internal security
situation in northeast has improved
over the past year. It has entered into
ceasefire agreements with several
insurgent groups and is holding peace
talks with NSCN (IM) and some other
terrorist groups as well. But the guns
are back in Assam and incidences of
violence and extortion by terrorist
groups all over the northeast are on
the rise. For most northeast insurgent
groups the fight for self-determination
is synonymous with extortion,
smuggling and even drug running.
(NDTV)
Support farmers: Swaminathan
tells Government
On 6 th October,
Chairman of the
National Commission on
Farmers (NCF) M.S.
Swaminathan said the
Government, instead of
being “protectionist,”
should support farmers. Addressing a
press conference on the fifth and final
report of the National Commission on
Farmers that was presented to
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar
here on Wednesday, Prof.
Swaminathan said even developed
countries extended “support” to the
farming community. “If the
Government were not to support
17
farmers what would happen to the
poor?” The Commission opposed the
policy of building the country’s food
security with imported foodgrains. The
policy should be based on “home-
grown” foodgrains, barring few
exceptions in case of natural calamity.
(The Hindu)
Govt urged to remove anti homo-
sexual law
Eminent persons from all walks of life
led by author Vikram Seth have written
an open letter asking the government
to strike down a section of the Indian
Penal Code that outlaws
homosexuality. The letter-signed
among others by former Attorney
General Soli Sorabjee, filmmaker
Shyam Benegal and writer Arundhati
Roy-supported the “overturning of
Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code,
a colonial-era law dating to 1861,
which punitively criminalises romantic
love and private, consensual sexual
acts between adults of the same sex”.
(Hindustan Times)
SC for reforms in police force
For decades, India’s police force has
operated on the whims of politicians
with police officers being transferred
if they did not act on their wishes.
Now it is all set to change after the
Supreme Court ordered sweeping
reforms in the police. It ensures most
importantly, the creation of a police
establishment board, which will act as
a buffer between the police and the
government. It has been a 10-year-
long wait for Prakash Singh, former
DGP and Padma Shree awardee. But
on 22nd September, the Supreme Court
acted on his petition and directed the
Centre and all states to implement
police reforms that have been in cold
storage for almost 25 years now.
(NDTV)
- HT Bureau
 International Human Rights Update
UN: States Must Cooperate With
Human Rights Council
UN member states must take
immediate steps to improve
cooperation with the Human Rights
Council, particularly with the
independent experts it has appointed
to look at human rights issues. More
than 80 states have outstanding
requests for visits by council
independent experts, according to
information on the website of the
Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights, including half of the
council’s members. On September 27,
the council concluded a series of
“interactive dialogues” during which
some 27 experts reported on human
rights issues such as torture,
trafficking in persons, and violence
against women. (Reuters)
Turkmenistan: Killing Of RFE/
RL Journalist, Rights Abuses
Threaten EU Trade Accord
The widely
condemned
death of
RFE/RL
journalist
Ogulsapar
Muradova
at the hands of Turkmenistan’s
security apparatus last month has
become a key issue in EU discussions
on renewing trade links with the
country. The European Parliament this
week made it known that it will not
ratify a new trade accord, which was
negotiated by the EU’s European
Commission. The Parliament’s
international trade committee adopted
a draft resolution on October 4 sharply
critical of Turkmenistan, saying that
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
President Saparmurat Niyazov’s
regime severely violates “civil,
political, social, economic, and cultural
rights”. (rferl)
UAE: End Harassment of Rights
Defenders
T h e
authorities
in the
United
A r a b
Emirates should end their harassment
of some of the country’s most
prominent human rights defenders and
give their organizations the legal
recognition they have sought, The
UAE’s policies toward human rights
defenders are completely inconsistent
with the government’s message that
this is a tolerant and forward-looking
country. The authorities should be
encouraging these advocates, not
harassing them and trying to silence
them. During the past few months,
security officials and the judiciary have
targeted several of the country’s
prominent human rights defenders.
(Reuters)
Indonesian court acquits pilot of
murdering human rights activist
Indonesia’s
Supreme
Court has
overturned
the guilty
verdict of an
airline pilot convicted of murdering a
18
prominent human rights activist who
was poisoned while on a flight two
years ago. In a surprise ruling, the
court said that Pollycarpus Budihari
Priyanto, 45, of Garuda Indonesia, the
country’s national flag carrier, was not
guilty of murdering Munir Said Thalib,
the co-founder of the Commission for
Missing Persons and Victims of
Violence. Last December, the Central
Jakarta District Court sentenced
Pollycarpus to 14 years in prison for
his role in killing of Munir while on a
flight to Amsterdam in September
2004. An autopsy preformed in Holland
showed the human rights campaigner
had lethal levels of arsenic in his body.
(rawstory)
Uzbekistan: Journalist
Imprisoned in Widening
Crackdown
U z b e k
authorities
should
reverse the
six-year
prison
sentence
handed
down to
yet another independent journalist
following a politically-motivated trial.
Ulugbek Khaidarov, an independent
journalist, was sentenced on 5 th
October on charges of “extortion”
(under article 165 of the Uzbek
criminal code). Authorities had
accused Khaidarov of blackmailing a
woman who had allegedly shoved
money in his pockets right before
police arrested him. Khaidarov is a
freelance journalist from Jizzakh
province who regularly contributes to
several websites on political
developments, social problems and the
human rights situation in Uzbekistan.
He has also been involved with the
banned opposition Free Peasant Party
(Ozod Dekhonlar). The Uzbek
government often charges journalists
and activists with extortion or
hooliganism to punish or silence them.
(Reuters)
30-Year German Case Violates
Human Rights
Germany violated the Convention on
Human Rights by letting a court case
drag on for more than 30 years, the
European Court of Human Rights ruled
on 5th October. The plaintiff now seeks
millions in compensation. Just seven
weeks after the soccer World Cup
ended in Germany, Jürgen Grässer
took his case to court. The young
developer sued the city of
Saarbrücken, which refused to issue
him a building permit for a shopping
center on land he already owned. The
above-mentioned World Cup took
place in 1974 and Grässer’s been
making his way through the courts
ever since. On5th October, the
European Court of Human Rights ruled
that the extraordinary length of the
legal proceedings amounted to “a
particularly grave violation of the right
to a hearing within a reasonable time”.
(DW-WORLD)
Egypt to host human rights
conference next December
The Egyptian National council for
Human Rights is to organize a world
conference on civil societies role in
reinforcing commitment to
international human rights and
protection of civilians at times of war.
The conference will kick off on
December 16 with the participation of
regional and international governmental
institutions and non governmental
organizations. It will review the
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
violations witnessed by Lebanon and
Gaza and the role played by civil
society establishments in alleviating
people sufferings in both countries. It
is expected that the conference will
be preceded by a preparatory
workshop to be attended by an elite
of legal and human rights experts from
many countries. (Baharin News
Agency)
Russian Human Rights Activists
Denounce Georgia Embargo
A group of
Russian civil
society
activists
called on the
Russian
authorities to
stop the
“anti-Georgian hysteria” and the
“creation of an atmosphere of war”.
An open letter by a number of
prominent Russian human rights
activists, including Lyudmila
Alekseeva, chairperson of Moscow
Helsinki Group; Lev Ponomaryov of
the For Human Rights (FHR)
movement and Elena Bonner reads that
Russia’s decision to impose an
embargo on Georgia will hit the most
vulnerable part of the population and
the move is a clear sign of “collective
punishment.” (Civil Georgia)
Sudan: Human Rights situation
deteriorating in Darfur five
months after peace agreement
Despite the signing of the Darfur
Peace Agreement (DPA) there has
been more fighting, more displacement
and more uncertainty in Sudan. With
the African Union Mission in Sudan
(AMIS) so far unable to protect
civilians, it’s a call again for Sudan to
consent to the deployment of a UN
peacekeeping force to protect civilians
without further delay. The Sudan
government has recently launched the
19
largest military offensive in over a year
in North Darfur. Large scale aerial
bombardment is taking place, attacks
are characterized by serious violations
of international humanitarian law,
including indiscriminate and
disproportionate attacks and direct
attacks on civilians. Often, clinics and
schools — such as one in al-Hassan
on 29 July — appear to be targeted.
In a recent bombing on 27 September
in Kusa Kurna near Sayah, north-east
of al-Fasher, three women were killed:
Halima ‘Issa Abaker, and two sisters,
Maryam and Hawa Ishaq Omar.
(reliefweb)
Pakistan criticised on human
rights
Pakistan is abducting hundreds of
people, who have been accused of
terrorist ties, and are holding them in
secret locations before handing them
over to the US, according to a report.
The report titled Human Rights Ignored
in the War on Terror, which accuses
Pakistan, a major US ally, of
systematically committing human
rights abuses against Pakistani and
foreign suspects. Pakistan’s routine
practice of offering rewards running
to thousands of dollars for unidentified
terror suspects has led to illegal
detentions of innocent people.
(Aljazeera)
Iraqi prisons see a few
improvements
Though Iraqi
Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki
has promised to
crack down on
those held
responsible for
perpetuating
alleged human rights violations inside
Iraqi prisons, Iraqis who have only
recently been detained, say prison
treatment and conditions are still harsh.
Al-Maliki’s promise is part of a 24
point reconciliation plan, released by
the Iraqi government on 25 June. The
plan lays out means to curb sectarian
violence in the country by addressing
a diverse range of aspects of Iraqi
society, such as human rights,
compensation to victims, democracy,
the judiciary and the economy among
others. While former prisoners
welcome the government’s new
initiatives, fresh memories of their
experiences haunt them. (Reuters)
Human rights still under siege in
Cuba
The Cuban
government
is nothing if
not consis-
tent. Faced
once again
with a report
in the U.N.
Human Rights Council condemning
the way Cuba treats its citizens, the
government responded by denounc-
ing Christine Chanet, the French law-
yer who prepared the report. This is a
pathetic but typical response by a re-
gime that has once again had its dirty
laundry aired before the human-rights
community. The 13-page report pre-
pared by Ms. Chanet and presented
for the first time to the Human Rights
Council in Geneva in the last week of
September describes a host of viola-
tions: Arbitrary arrests; the suppres-
sion of free speech and free associa-
tion; restricting common liberties,
such as the freedom to travel. None
of this will come as news to anyone
familiar with life in Cuba, but it is im-
portant for reports such as this to be
presented to international organizations
that command attention. It robs Cuba
of any pretense to claim good stand-
ing in the community of nations that
respect the basic rights of their own
citizens. (Miami Herald)
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
AHRC urges Superior Courts in
Thailand to declare power grab
and interim constitution illegal
Asian Human
R i g h t s
Commission has
called upon the
superior courts
in Thailand to
declare illegal
the assumption
of power and
declaration of a
new interim constitution by the coup
leaders headed by General Sonthi
Boonyaratglin. AHRC has also called
upon the judiciary in Thailand to resist
all attempts at interference in its
workings by the military junta.
Furthermore AHRC has told the
Supreme Court and Supreme
Administrative Court to refuse to
establish the proposed Constitutional
Tribunal, on the ground that it amounts
to a grave violation of judicial
independence.
(Asian tribune)
Israeli forces kill eight
Palestinians, including three
children
On 29
September
2006, Israeli
Occupation
Forces fired a
missile at two
Palestinian
children, who
passed near an
abandoned
rack used in launching home-made
rockets at Israeli targets. The two
children, who are brothers, were
killed. On 30 September, IOF extra-
judicially executed two members of the
al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed
wing of Fatah movement, in Rafah.
The attacks also wounded two civilian
bystanders, including a child. On 2
20
October 2006, IOF shot dead a
Palestinian fisherman opposite to Deir
al-Balah seashore in the central Gaza
Strip. On 3 October, a Palestinian child
was killed and his brother was
wounded, when IOF bombarded a
workshop adjacent to their house in
Khan Yunis. On 4 October, IOF extra-
judicially executed two Palestinians in
Khan Yunis. In addition, 5 Palestinian
civilians were wounded when IOF
attempted to extra-judicially execute
3 Palestinians. (Palestine News
Network)
Threats seek to endanger human
rights cases in Argentina
Numerous
judges and
attorneys across
Argentina have
received threats
that seek to
curb the
investigation of
human rights
violations during
the country’s
1976-83 military dictatorship,
Argentina’s top justice official said
Friday. Attorney General Esteban Righi
urged those affected to report any
threats to the relevant judicial
authorities. The country’s courts in
September for the first time used the
term “genocide” to describe the
systematic crimes that killed up to
30,000 people during the military
regime. Righi said that a list will be
made of people who have been called
to testify in future proceedings against
alleged human rights abusers, in order
to guarantee them protection. Further,
Argentine media reported that eight
federal judges and eight attorneys in
several of the country’s provinces
have received threatening letters posted
in the capital. (The Raw Story)
- HT Bureau
 Interview with Mr. M. Ravikant, IAS:
Delhi being a cosmopolitan city and being the national capital, has typical problems and issues concerning the
minority communities. The Delhi Minority Commission under the the able and dynamic supervision of its Secretary
M. Ravikant is indeed doing a challenging job. Dr. Girija B. Nanda, Editor, Human Touch recently spoke to this
young and able IAS officer regarding the aims and objectives of DMC. Following are the excerpts of the interview.
HT: What is the mandate of the
DMC?
MR: Delhi Minorities Commission
(DMC) was set up in 2000 by the
Government of NCT of Delhi to safe-
guard the rights and interests of mi-
nority Communities in the NCT of
Delhi. The Commission consists of a
Chairman and two members from the
Minority Communities of Delhi nomi-
nated by the Government of NCT of
Delhi.
The Commission has an advisory role
while examining safeguards provided
in the Constitution of India or laws
enacted by Parliament and Legislative
Assembly of Delhi for the protection
of the Minorities and to make recom-
mendations to ensure their effective
implementation and in submitting a
special report on matters of public
importance pertaining to the interests
of the notified minority communities.
HT: Who are the notified Minority
Communities in Delhi?
MR: As per the Act, the Notified Mi-
nority Communities in NCT of Delhi
are Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Bud-
dhists and Parsis or Zoroastrians.
HT: How DMC can be approached
to redress individual complaint?
MR: DMC is a redressal forum for
grievances received from people of
minority Communities. An individual
can file a complaint either in person
or by post in duplicate against any dis-
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
crimination on the grounds of his/ her
religion or being a member of the mi-
nority community. The Commission
calls for a report from the concerned
Department or Agency on the com-
plaint. The commission does not en-
tertain complaints received from
other-than notified minority Commu-
nities, anonymous complaints and
against the matter, which is subjudice.
HT: Does the DMC have judicial
Powers?
MR: Yes. As a redressal forum, it is a
quasi-judicial body having all powers
of a civil court while trying a suit.
HT: Can the DMC monitor welfare
projects undertaken by the govern-
ment for upliftment of minorities?
MR: The Commission can monitor
various welfare activities undertaken
by the Government departments in
respect of minority communities like
maternal and child health under pri-
mary health care scheme undertaken
by MCD, Health Department and grant
of minority status to the educational
institutions run by the minority com-
munities. The commission also moni-
tors the process of expediting the pro-
cedure to provide loans to people of
minority communities by Delhi Sched-
ules Caste / Scheduled Tribe / Minori-
ties Financial Development Corpora-
tion, Government of NCT of Delhi.
21
HT: It is found that the Urdu
Medium schools have performed
badly in the last Board Examina-
tion. What steps the Commission
has taken to improve the situation?
MR: The Commission has taken this
matter very seriously and thus, de-
cided to call all Urdu as well as Punjabi
Medium schools in Delhi to have a first
hand knowledge of the problems faced
by these schools so that it can for-
ward their viewpoint before the gov-
ernment. The meeting is scheduled to
be held shortly.
HT: It is reported in news papers
that there is a shortage of Burial
Grounds for the Muslims and
Christians in Delhi. What are the
steps the commission has taken to
improve the situation?
MR: The commission has received
several complaints in the recent past.
In order to understand the ground re-
ality, the commission has awarded a
research study to one of our Partner
NGOs. Besides, the officials and mem-
bers as well as Chairman of the Com-
mission have also played a key role to
establish a graveyard for Christians in
Trans-Yamuna area. The Commission
officials visited several sites short-
listed by the state government and fi-
nalized one site at village Khajuri Khas
in trans-Yamuna area.
HT: How the Commission reach the
general public?
MR: The commission has adopted a
unique procedure to reach the public.
The commission organizes Jan
Sunwayees. This have been adopted
as a regular and continuous
programme of the Commission to cre-
ate greater awareness about the
Commission’s mandate among the
minority communities and further in-
still in them a greater confidence while
facing the problems that they are con-
fronting with. So far 17 Jan
Sunwayees have been organized. Sec-
ondly, the Commission has a very well
made website. Anybody can reach the
commission or know about the activi-
ties of the Commission by visiting the
website in Internet. Thirdly, the Com-
mission also plans to reach the people,
through its newsletter shortly.
HT: We receive several complains
from minorities that they face sev-
eral problems in getting minority
certificates. What are the steps the
Commission has taken to ensure
that people of minority communi-
ties receive certificate without
much hardship?
MR: The Commission received sev-
eral complaints from members of the
Minority Communities in Delhi that
they were not able to get minority cer-
tificates from the government, as of-
ficials had not been designated by the
Government to do so.
The commission has already raised the
issue before the government and rec-
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
ommended the government to desig-
nate officers for issuing such certifi-
cates without any hardship in all parts
of NCT of Delhi.
Besides, in order to facilitate faster
service, the commission also simulta-
neously decided that till the govern-
ment designates such officials, the
commission would issue minority cer-
tificates to the applicants, on personal
knowledge basis, by the Chairman and
the members.
HT: What are the recommenda-
tions of the Commission on cre-
ation of a Minority Cell under Delhi
Chief Minister?
MR: In the background of the impor-
tance accorded to issues relating to the
minorities in the Common Minimum
Programme of the United Progressive
Alliance Government at the Centre and
also taking note of the fact that there
is no demarcated administrative space
in Delhi Government to deal (exclu-
sively) with issues related to the mi-
nority communities, the Commission
recommended to the government to
take step to create a Minority Cell in
the Delhi Government directly under
the charge of the Chief Minister with
the secretary of the Delhi Minorities
Commission as its Ex- Officio Secre-
tary, provided further that the tenure
of the said Minority Cell may be co-
terminus with the present Commis-
sion. The Commission perceived that
there is no clearly demarcated admin-
istrative space within which issues
related to the minority communities
can be addressed exclusively and ex-
22
peditiously. With the great importance
now being accorded by the present
government to these issues, it may be
desirable to create such a space in the
administrative set up of Delhi Govern-
ment. Such a cell will also facilitate
the expeditious processing of all pa-
pers emanating from the Delhi Minori-
ties Commission and address to the
Government. It will also facilitate
policy-making on minority issues
easier and more focused approach.
HT: Is DMC working to give Jain
community a minority status in
Delhi? What are the measures
adopted by the Commission so far?
MR: Following the decision of the
Supreme Court of India in the TMA
Pai case which had ruled that, “reli-
gious and linguistic minorities who
have been put on par in Article 30 have
to be considered state-wise”, the Jain
community in Delhi made representa-
tion to the commission requesting the
commission to recommend to the
Government of NCT of Delhi to de-
clare the Jain community to be a mi-
nority community in the National Capi-
tal Territory in Delhi. The Commis-
sion considered the representations
and recommended to Government to
declare the community to be a minor-
ity community of the NCT of Delhi.
HT: What are the immediate plans
of the commission to ensure that
the rights of the minorities of Delhi
are protected and the minority com-
munities do not face exploitation
and gets equal opportunities to be
heard and empowered?
MR: Delhi Minorities Commission
(DMC) is making all efforts to achieve
the mandate fully and making the Com-
mission minority-friendly in all ways
and always.
(Interview conducted by Dr. Girija
B. Nanda, Editor, Human Touch)
 Status of Indian Women:
Concern over Right and Development
You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women.” - Jawaharlal Nehru.
I
t’s been decades, the first Prime
Minister of India said this and after
so many years when successive
governments in India are never tired
of boasting their contributions for the
advancement of Indian Women this
article is an attempt to do a soul
searching exercise. “Undoubtedly the
worth of civilization can be judged
from the role that it assigns to women.
Richness and greatness of the Indian
civilization is being recognized
worldwide and one primary reason for
this is the fact that women in India
have always remained an important
part of our cultural heritage.” The
above two sentences are very
common, I must have read those lines
thousand times since my childhood. I
am not questioning the authenticity of
these lines, but my intention is quite
clear, time has come when all of us
must be bold enough to think beyond
these lines. Because the condition of
Indian women today is a practical
reality and there is no place for rhetoric
to explain the real condition of Indian
women.
The Indian constitution grants women
equal rights with men, but strong
patriarchal traditions persist, with
women’s lives shaped by customs that
are centuries old. In most Indian
families, a daughter is viewed as a
liability, and is conditioned to believe
that she is inferior and subordinate to
men. Sons are idolized and celebrated.
India is one of the few countries where
males significantly outnumber females,
and this imbalance has increased over
time. India’s maternal mortality rates
in rural areas are among the world’s
highest.
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
Women and Nutrition:
The exceptionally high rates of
malnutrition in India are rooted deeply
in the soil of inequality between men
and women. Women who are
responsible for everyone’s food in the
family, themselves are the worst
victims of malnutrition. Women work
longer hours and their work is more
arduous than men’s, yet their work is
unrecognized. Men report that
“women, like children, eat and do
nothing.” Gender disparities in nutrition
are evident from infancy to adulthood.
Gender has been the most statistically
significant determinant of malnutrition
among young children and
malnutrition is a frequent direct or
underlying cause of death among girls
below age five. Girls are breast-fed
less frequently and for shorter
durations in infancy; in childhood and
adulthood, males are fed first and
better. Adult women consume
approximately 1,000 fewer calories per
day than men according to one
estimate from Punjab. Comparison of
household dietary intake studies in
different parts of the country show
23
- Monalisa Panda
that nutritional equity between males
and females is lower in northern than
in southern states.
Nutritional deprivation has two major
negative impacts on women; first they
never reach their full growth potential
and second anaemia. With anaemia
ranging from 40-50 percent in urban
areas to 50-70 percent in rural areas,
both have emerged as major threats
for women during pregnancy. This
condition complicates childbearing and
result in maternal and infant deaths,
and low birth weight infants.
One study found anaemia in over 95
percent of girls (age group, 6-14years)
in Calcutta, around 67 percent in the
Hyderabad area, 73 percent in the New
Delhi area, and about 18 percent in
the Madras area. This study states,
“The prevalence of anaemia among
women in age group 15-24 and 25-44
years follows similar patterns and
levels. Besides posing risks during
pregnancy, anaemia increases
women’s susceptibility to diseases
such as tuberculosis and reduces the
energy women have available for daily
activities such as household chores,
child care, and agricultural labor. Any
severely anaemic individual is taxed by
most physical activities, including
walking at an ordinary pace.”
Few years back there was a shocking
revelation in one of the reports of
United Nations that a girl child was
breast-fed for shorter period of time
as compared to their male
counterparts. If women are
particularly anxious to have a male
child, they may deliberately try to
become pregnant again as soon as
possible after a female is born.
Conversely, women may consciously
seek to avoid another pregnancy after
the birth of a male child in order to
give maximum attention to the new
son. As adults, women get less health
care than men. They tend to be less
likely to admit that they are sick and
they’ll wait until their sickness has
progressed before they seek help or
help is sought for them. Studies on
attendance at rural primary health
centers reveal that more males than
females are treated in almost all parts
of the country, with differences
greater in northern hospitals than
southern ones, pointing to regional
differences in the value placed on
women. Women’s socialization to
tolerate suffering and their reluctance
to be examined by male personnel are
additional constraints in their getting
adequate health care.
Abortion & Female Infanticide
According to a recent report by the
United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) up to 50 million girls and
women are missing from India’s
population, as a result of systematic
gender discrimination in India. In most
countries of the world, there are
approximately 105 female births for
every 100 males. In India, there are
less than 93 women for every 100 men
in the population. The accepted reason
for such a disparity is the practice of
female infanticide in India, prompted
by the existence of a dowry system
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
which requires the family to pay out a
great deal of money when a female
child is married. For a poor family,
the birth of a girl child can signal the
beginning of financial ruin and
extreme hardship. However this anti-
female bias is by no means limited to
poor families. Much of the
discrimination is to do with cultural
beliefs and social norms. These norms
themselves must be challenged if this
practice is to stop. Diagnostic teams
with ultrasound scanners which detect
the sex of a child advertise with catch
lines such as spend 600 rupees now
and save 50,000 rupees later. The
implication is that by avoiding a girl, a
family will avoid paying a large dowry
on the marriage of her daughter.
According to UNICEF, the problem is
getting worse as scientific methods of
detecting the sex of a baby and of
performing abortions are improving.
These methods are becoming
increasingly available in rural areas of
India, fuelling fears that the trend
towards the abortion of female
foetuses is on the increase. The gravity
of the situation is expressed by Prime
Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in no
uncertain terms, i.e. “How can we
call ourselves a civilized society if we
can tolerate such a barbaric crime?
This is not committed by the illiterate
and the impoverished. It is being
committed in this very city, perhaps
in this very neighborhood.”
Land Ownership and Women
Existing land ownership laws in most
24
of the Indian states are discriminatory.
Though the recent Hindu Succession
(Amendment) Act 2005 does away
with the gender discriminatory clause
on agricultural land, its greatest flaw
is that it is applicable only to Hindu
women. On the other hand, among the
Muslims, even though the Muslim
Personal Law (Shariat) Application
Act, 1937 gives daughters and widows
property rights, agricultural land is
kept away from its ambit. Moreover,
past experiences reflect that merely
well-intentioned legislation does not
bring in results. For example the
Ministry of Rural Development’s
instruction that 40% of agricultural
land settled under land reform
programmes should be exclusively in
the name of women and in the
remaining cases, the allotment may be
jointly in the name of husband and
wife, is not being followed. The Ninth
Five Year Plan (1997-2002) for
instance emphasized the need for
gender-friendly changes in land laws
and stated “(there must be) preference
to women in the distribution of ceiling
surplus land and legal provisions for
protecting their rights on land”.
However there is much to be done in
this aspect do and there is an urgent
need to remove gender discrimination
in accessibility and ownership of
resources, including land.
Female Literacy in India
More than fifty years ago, the
Constitution of India assured all
children the right to free and
 survival tasks including fetching water,
The unparliamentary shouting brigade
collecting fuel wood and fodder, of Indian Parliament must realize that
cooking, cleaning and caring for women’s contribution to the cause of
younger siblings. In most Indian
nation-building exceeds that of men.
States, including progressive Kerala
and West Bengal, the gender gap in An International Labour Organization
study shows that “while women
literacy has declined only marginally
represent 50 percent of the world adult
over the last seven years. In Rajasthan,
the gender gap appears to have population and a third of the official
increased from 35 percentage pointslabour force, they perform nearly two-
to 38 percentage points. third of all working hours, receive a
tenth of world income and own less
Reservation: A social necessity
Recently Prime Minister Dr. than one percent of world property.”
Manmohan Singh said the Government Therefore, reservation for women is
would bring forward a legislation to not a gift but only an honest
reserve seats for women in Parliament recognition of their contribution to
compulsory education up to the age in the next session. Dr. Singh said such social development. Reservation for
of 14 years. This milestone women would definitely
was to be achieved within
bring a much needed breath
ten years of Independence,
that is, by 1960. Today, the of fresh air to the filthy
goal has shifted further into politics that the men folk
the future. India now have brought about.
expects to achieve universal Undoubtedly it would bring
education by 2010. While social consciousness to
Kerala and Himachal political life. It would also
Pradesh, with less than 5%
help in combing the
of girls still out of school, Women’s Presence in the Lok Sabha
can justifiably celebrate criminal-politician nexus -
their achievements, what of the real danger to our
the others? Can Bihar, democracy.
where nearly half of the
girls who should be going Conclusion
to school are not in fact This is not a new topic;
doing so, hope to achieve right from the independence
universal education in a all political parties and
mere ten years? successive governments
have this habit of creating
For the majority of girls hype over this sensitive
from poor rural families, issue. There is no point
going to school is an sensitizing the issue just for
impossible dream. In poor a political gimmick, it’s a
families, both boys and girls social responsibility on all of
begin to help with household chores reservation at the gram panchayat level us to create proper atmosphere where
from a very early age, but as they had demonstrated its efficacy in we can really flaunt our glorious past.
grow older, the burden on girls empowering women across the
increases disproportionately. By the country. He added that those who - The writer is a Homemaker who
time they reach adolescence, girls were opposed to the legislation had contributes regularly to the Human
carry a major share of the burden of been brought around. Touch

Vol. III No.10 October 2006 25

 Expanding the Concept of Human Rights:
Raising Concerns Over Diminishing Practice of Breastfeeding
Expanding the Concept of Human
Rights: Raising Concerns Over
Diminishing Practice of
Breastfeeding
Couple of months back we observed
the World Breastfeeding Week (WBW)
and we have been doing this since quite
some time with an intention to help
protect, promote and support
Breastfeeding. Although Breastfeeding
is one of the ancient human practices
it still has to get the acknowledgment
of a universal human right. Reduced
practice of breastfeeding is one of the
worst effects of the so-called human
march of development and growth. A
major reason for this is lack of
awareness in practical aspects of
problems in breastfeeding in all
sections of the community.
Contemporary research on the
problem reveals that it is not possible
for infants and their mothers to achieve
optimal health unless the conditions
exist that allow women to practice
exclusive Breastfeeding for about six
months and to continue Breastfeeding
while providing adequate
complementary foods up to two years
of life and beyond. Thus Breastfeeding
is a right of mothers and is a
fundamental component in assuring a
child’s right to food, health and care.
This article is an humble attempt to
raise public awareness about
breastfeeding as a right for both the
mother and the child, to provide
information about formal and legal
mechanisms that exists or should exist
nationally/internationally and to
stimulate a shift in public thinking so
that the breastfeeding right is
respected, protected, facilitated and
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
fulfilled at household, community and
government levels in every state and
country.
Explaining the need of
Breastfeeding: A macro level
Analysis
Women and children are subjects of
human rights, not objects of charity.
Breastfeeding is part of fundamental
human rights: the right to food and to
health. Breast milk is the normal food
for infants. It provides a nutritionally
balanced food for children, reducing
the chances of diseases, including
diarrhea, pneumonia, ear and urinary
tract infections. The act of
Breastfeeding is an essential
component of good health care,
contributing to healthy growth and
psychosocial development.
Breastfeeding also contributes to every
woman’s right to health by reducing
her risk of getting breast and ovarian
cancer, iron deficiency anemia, and hip
26
fracture. Expanding Breastfeeding as
a human right implies that children
must have access to adequate food and
nutrition to ensure health development
from birth. This means exclusive
breastfeeding for the first six months
and, continued breastfeeding with
appropriate complementary feeding for
up to two years of age and beyond.
Government and all other sectors of
society have the duty to ensure that
there are no obstacles for women who
wish to breastfeed. Women shall not
be discriminated against because they
are breastfeeding. Women should be
provided with unbiased, accurate
information and enabled and supported
to breastfeed. Women have the right
to have access to good pre-natal care
and mother and baby-friendly health
facilities. Women have a right not to
be exposed to undue pressure from
breast milk substitute producers
through advertising or any other form
of promotion like, through health care
providers.
Explaining the need of
Breastfeeding: A micro level
Analysis
To explain the advantages of
breastfeeding let us focus on those
economic parameters. The following
analysis has an enormous analytical
strength to estimate the economic
advantages of breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding can bring economic
benefits to many levels of society:
· For households
* Savings on the unnecessary
purchase of artificial breast milk
substitutes and equipment.
* Savings on time to artificially
 feed infants and to fetch water
and fuel for preparation and
clean up.
* Savings on medical care
through fewer trips to
physician or hospital for a sick
child, medications and time
caring for a sick child.
* Savings on cost of birth control
methods and menstruation
supplies time
* Savings on workdays lost in
caring for a sick child.
· For employers
* Savings from greater
productivity and less
absenteeism among
breastfeeding mothers.
* Employers whose policies and
facilities support the needs for
breastfeeding will have more
loyal workers who less often
miss work to care for sick
babies.
· For nations
* Savings, often in foreign
exchange, on the purchase and
distribution of artificial breast
milk substitutes.
* Savings on health care for
preventable acute and chronic
illnesses.
* Savings in ecological damage
avoided by reduced ABS
production, distribution and
disposal.
* Savings on remedial education
or special education.
The above are the advantages of
breastfeeding and the absence of
breastfeeding is also a grave danger.
Artificial feeding in the infant’s first
year is associated with:
* More diarrhea than in breastfed
infants.
* More respiratory infections.
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
* More meningitis.
* More ear infections.
* Increased allergies.
* More chronic digestive
disorders and dental/orthopedic
problems.
* More diabetes.
* More learning difficulties and
delayed development.
* More hospitalization.
When exclusive breastfeeding is
ended too early
* The supplement usually just
replaces breast milk with
something of lower nutritional
value.
* Unnecessary contamination and
infection occur at a younger and
more vulnerable age this can
lead to malnutrition and even
death.
* The child’s intellectual
development can be harmed.
* The contraceptive effect of
breastfeeding is reduced and
closer child spacing increases
the risk of low birth
27
weight there is a loss of
oxytocin, the “calming, love”
hormone.
It’s not that the international
community and the national
lawmakers are unaware of such
gravity of the situation. In fact in recent
years a number of national and
international statutes have come up to
highlight the cause of breastfeeding.
International & National
Instruments.
Every woman has the right to
breastfeed her child. Our government
has legally obliged users to fulfill the
rights contained in these documents:
* The Convention on the Rights
of the Child (CRC) and its
monitoring body, the United
Nations Committee on the
Rights of the Child, provide a
valuable framework for the
development of strategies to
deal with issues affecting child
health. While many of the
Articles of the Convention have
a bearing on health, Article 24
specifically defines the rights of
the child to health and health
care.
* Innocenti Declaration on the
Protection, Promotion and
Support of Breastfeeding,
1990.
* Covenant on economic, social
and Cultural Rights (CESCR).
* ILO Convention on Maternity
Protection.
* International Code of Marketing
of Breastmilk Substitutes.
* The Infant Milk Substitutes,
Feeding Bottles and Infant
Foods (Regulation of
Production, Supply and
Distribution) Act, 1992 (The
IMS Act).

There are a number of actions that can
be taken by the groups locally and
nationally. The protection, respect,
facilitation, and fulfillment of these
rights require universal recognition of
the importance of breastfeeding as a
societal norms, supported by public
contribution and funds. Every woman
should be able to count on full support
from these around her to enable her
to initiate and sustain breastfeeding. It
is the responsibility of the entire
community to see that the best
possible nutrition is available to all of
its members, beginning with the
newborn infant.
Throughout the world, families,
communities and nations seek to
promote the health and welfare of their
children. Unfortunately, economic
factors often hinder these efforts
through lack of funds for nutritious
foods, clean water, and preventive and
curative health care. Breastfeeding
requires very little investment and has
a tremendous payback for families,
employers, communities, health care
institutions and governments. In our
case, if exclusive breastfeeding
prevented only one episode of diarrhea
per child per year, the money saved
would exceed the national budget for
child health. Lactation amenorrhea is
by far the top contraceptive in the
country; the value of this to the national
family planning programme is equal
to nearly half its budget.
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
While economic
data may be
useful in certain
settings for
c r e a t i n g
awareness of
the importance
of breastfeeding
among policy
makers, MASM
cautions that
economic calculations underestimate
the complete value of breastfeeding.
Its economic value is only a fraction
of its human welfare value.
Breastfeeding guarantees the baby skin-
to-skin contact, attention from mother
and other caring attributes.
Bottlefeeding does not guarantee any
of these.
However, discussions on breast milk
production and its food value should
be handled delicately so as not to
‘offend’ some women with the
comparison to cows. Policy makers
should be made aware of the
importance of exclusive breastfeeding,
the need to make mother support
available, to provide extra support for
working women, and to have a system
for the regulation of the baby food
industry so breastfeeding is not
undermined.
Women should not be made to choose
between mother work and other work.
It is in society’s interest to fund
breastfeeding promotion and support
programs and to consider
breastfeeding time as work time for
mothers in paid jobs, or even to pay
women to breastfeed.
MASM Plan of Action:
We at Manavadhikar Samajik Manch
have prepared an exclusive plan of
action to popularize the concept of
breastfeeding and make it a universally
28
human right. We now put it before our
esteem readers and appeal to them to
take steps to spread this message
among all sections of our community.
* Talk with your boss about the
economic benefits of
establishing breastfeeding
programs at your work place.
* Find ways through TV and
newspapers to give recognition
to workplaces that encourage
breastfeeding, such as giving a
mother-friendly workplace
award.
* Give a copy of this article to
the people in government
responsible for establishing
maternity protection laws, labor
regulations and health
programs.
* Organize community group
discussions and presentations
on the cost of formula feeding.
* Offer to talk at schools,
women’s groups, business
groups etc about the real cost
of not breastfeeding.
* Help people recognize that
breastfeeding is a valuable
natural resource to the country.
Calculate the costs of artificial
feeding for one year for one
infant and then compare it with
the per capita GNP.
 * Write to your governmental
representatives at local and
national levels urging them to
promote breastfeeding in
government offices and
improve the support available
for breastfeeding women on
their staff.
* Suggest ways to cut costs and
increase savings in hospitals,
health facilities, family planning
programmes, and for families
by promoting breastfeeding.
* Urge health professionals to
influence economists,
statisticians and those involved
in drawing up health and food
statistics to include human milk
in their calculations of food
supply, availability of food and
nutrients and the economic
value of food.
* Show how hospital costs can
be reduced when breastfeeding
increases. They realize savings
in purchase of IV fluids, ABS,
bottles, staff nursing time,
reduced hospital days for
premature and newborns and
medications.
* In advocacy, first, action
should be urged on the basis of
breastfeeding as a woman’s
right; then breastfeeding-
promoting actions should be
encouraged by showing their
economic benefits and how
easily they pay for themselves
by reducing costs for imported
infant foods and for health
care.
- HT Bureau

OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER,

COAL MINES PROVIDENT FUND ORGANISATION
DHANBAD
Tel : 0326-2202114, Fax : 0326-2202297, E-mail : commissioner@cmpfo.gov.in

Vol. III No.10 October 2006 29

 Plight of Orphan Girls in Doda:
A Classic Case of Missing State Responsibility
E
ver since the outbreak of
militancy in Jammu and
Kashmir, several thousand
children have been orphaned
as a result of the ongoing conflict in
the region. The state has done little
for these children, who have, by
and large, been left to their cruel fate.
The plight of orphaned girls is,
obviously, even more precarious
than that of boys.
Nari Niketan (‘The Women’s Home’),
in Doda town, is the only state-funded
orphanage in the whole of
Jammu’s conflict-torn Doda district,
which, in terms of area, is larger than
the whole of the Kashmir
Valley or of the remaining districts of
the Jammu province combined.
Established in 1983, it was meant,
as its name suggests, for destitute
women but it now houses 25 orphan
girls. These girls have all lost
their fathers, although some of their
mothers are still alive. The girls come
from miserably poor families from far-
flung villages in the mountainous and
impoverished Doda district. The
youngest of the girls
studies in the third
standard, and around
half a dozen of them
are doing their
matriculation. The girls
are all enrolled in
government schools in
Doda, and their living
and other expenses are
taken care of by
the Nari Niketan.
Located in a narrow,
slushy lane at one end
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
of the town, the Nari Niketan has a
sullen, depressing look.
There is no garden or playground, and
the rooms inside are bare, damp and
dimly lit. The girls live in a
large hall, and each of them is provided
with a bed and a steel trunk. This is
where they sleep, dine, play and study.
The orphanage does not have a library
and the only provision for recreation
that it possesses are a carom board
and some badminton rackets. The
television has not been working for a
year, and complaints made to the
concerned authorities have made no
difference at all.
The girls giggle and crowd around us
when we enter. They proudly display
samples of intricate embroidery
and clothes they have stitched, which
they have learnt to do from the amiable
Zahida Begum, the crafts teacher who
30
- Yoginder Sikand
is like a foster mother to them. They
excitedly tell us about their studies, but
the heavy sadness that they carry deep
inside is painfully evident. They
complain of fever and rashes and the
lack of amenities. They tell us that local
people, even women living in the
neighbourhood, rarely, if ever, come
to meet, teach, play or just interact
with them. ‘Once or twice a year
some people send us food on
festivals’, a chirpy girl tells us. That,
it appears, is possibly the only interest
that the denizens of Doda take in these
hapless children.
‘Why should we expect the
government to do everything? Why
cannot local people also help out?’,
asks a staff member when we discuss
the problems that the Nari Niketan
faces. The local press, she tells me,
has not written anything about the
institution and the problems of the girls
who reside therein. ‘The only time they
do write about us is if and when a
chance VIP pays us a visit. That too
they write about the visit, not about
the problems of the institution’, she
laments.
The girls at the Nari
Niketan come from
different communities.
They are Kashmiri
Muslims, Hindus,
D a l i t s
and Gujjars but this
seems to matter not at
all, for they all seem
friendly enough with
each other. ‘We all
celebrate Eid and
Diwali together’, says
one girl, ‘and religious differences are
not a problem’.
The girls have their dreams and
ambitions for the future, which they
excitedly share with us. Some want
to become teachers, others doctors,
journalists and social workers. They
tell us of two girls from the
institution who are now in the Jammu
and Kashmir Police and a dozen-odd
girls who are now Anangawadi
workers. ‘Maybe we too can get good
jobs like that’, says a bright girl with
an endearing smile, and her
friends nod in
agreement.
‘There are several
hundred girls in Doda
district who have lost
their fathers in the last
fifteen years of
conflict in Doda, and to
add to that is the number
whose fathers have died
from other causes. So,
clearly, our present in-
take of just 25 girls for
the whole of the district
is pathetically low’,
says R, who works
with the District Social Welfare
Department (DSWD), in Doda.
‘We’ve been sending representations
every year to the government that the
in-take of the Nari Niketan be
increased to at least 50 and that at least
one such institution be established in
every of the seven tehsil headquarters
in Doda district, including the newly-
created Kishtwar and Ramban
districts, but our pleas have gone
unanswered’. This owes to
bureaucratic indifference, and the
apathy and misplaced priorities of the
government, R explains. ‘The
government says that it does not have
the funds for this. But the state is
spending hundreds of crores every
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
year on the army and police, so isn’t
it its duty to allocate at least a couple
of lakhs every year for institutions for
these children?’, he asks in anguish.
The Nari Niketan, R tells me, receives
more than a hundred applications each
year, but every year only 4-5 girls are
given admission. That means, he
explains, only a little more than a
hundred girls have benefited from the
institution since it was established over
two decades ago. Less than half a
dozen girls in the Nari Niketan, R tells
me, are victims of the ongoing armed
conflict in Doda, even though the total
number of such girls is staggering. The
New Delhi-based National Foundation
for Communal Harmony (NFCH), he
says, provides each of these children
a sum of Rs. 750 per month. Some
470-odd children in Doda in all receive
this sum, which is, as an official report
of the District Social Welfare Officer
of Doda explains, the only
government scheme for orphaned
children in the district. ‘There are
several hundred more children in Doda
whose fathers have been killed in the
violence, but I have no idea what the
state is doing for them’, R says. The
difficulty in accessing these limited
facilities is, R explains, compounded
31
by the fact that women whose
husbands have been killed by militants
or in cross-firing between militants and
the Army who want to avail of such
forms of state provision have to
complete numerous complicated
bureaucratic formalities, which few of
them are in a position to do. They have
to procure a copy of the First
Information Report from the police
station, an income certificate from the
tehsil or revenue authorities, a school
certificate countersigned by the Zila
Educational Officer and so on, and
then, R says, the NFCH can turn
down the requests on
the basis of minor
technical faults such as
unclear photocopies or
unfilled columns in
application forms.
The way its rules have
been framed makes the
Nari Niketan less
effective than it could
be. Once girls finish
their matriculation they
have to leave, thus
making it almost
impossible for them to
carry on with their
education. Girls who fail their
examinations at any level cannot stay
on.
A girl whom I met when I visited the
Nari Niketan had failed to clear some
of her papers in her matriculation
examination. From an extremely poor
family, both her parents were shot
dead by militants. ‘I want to carry on
with my studies, to do something
useful in life’, she says’ and the only
way for me to do so is to enroll in a
government school in Doda town and
stay on in the Nari Niketan’. ‘But’ she
says, ‘the rules say I cannot stay here
any longer, so what can I do?’. ‘I’ve
thought of approaching the District

Collector to ask him, but he’s a big
man, so maybe I be I won’t be allowed
to meet him’, she whispers in anguish.
The staff at the Nari Niketan seem
dedicated enough and concerned about
the children under their care. The
major problem is bureaucratic inertia,
lack of imagination and neglect. Why,
I asked a man I befriended at the
DSWD office, is it that the Nari
Niketan does not have any even
something as basic as books for the
children.
‘Lack of funds’, he answered. ‘But’,
I responded, ‘surely a cupboard with
a couple of dozen children’s books
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
would hardly cost more than a
thousand rupees’.
‘We are constructing a second floor
this year, which will have space for a
dining hall, a room for relatives visiting
the girl and for a library’, he replied.
But, why, I pressed on, is it that for
the last twenty-three years that the
Nari Niketan has been in existence the
authorities had not thought of installing
a little cupboard with books,
newspapers and games for the
children. To which the well-meaning
man simply shrugged his shoulders and
said, ‘What can I tell you, brother?
You know how government
departments function’.
The man went on to tell me about how
all of the seven posts for social
workers for the seven tehsils of the
erstwhile Doda district have been lying
vacant for several years, an indication,
he says, of ‘governmental apathy’.
The DSWD, he said, provides grants-
in-aid to just one NGO in the entire
district, a school run by a Buddhist in
Paddar in Kishtwar. The reasons: there
are hardly any sincere NGOs here,
most of the existing ones being
money-making rackets; lack of
awareness of government schemes;
and the fact that most organizations
working in the field of education and
32
health in the district are run on a
commercial basis. There are several
people in Doda district, he tells me,
who have done their graduation or
post-graduation in social work, but
almost none of them has set up a social
work organization. ‘Most of them
have done their degrees simply to get
a government job’, he rues.
‘Yes, the governmental authorities are
to blame for doing almost nothing for
orphans here’, he says, ‘but’, he
quickly adds, ‘civil society
organizations, too, are doing little.
Such children seem not to
matter at all to the powers-that-be’.
- HT Bureau
(The author works with the Centre
for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies, Jamia
Millia Islamia, New Delhi)
Visit our website at :
www.humanrightsnews.net
and
www.manavadhikar.net
for online human rights
updates.
 Story of a Struggle:
A Gujarati Muslim Woman’s Struggle for Justice
N
aseem Mohammad Shekh is an
activist working with victims of
the state-sponsored anti-Muslim
carnage in Gujarat in 2002, in which
more than 3000 people were killed. She
is based in the Qasimabad Colony, near
Kalol in the Panchmahals district of
Gujarat. Eleven members of her own
family, including her daughter and
husband, were slaughtered in this most
large-scale wave of anti-Muslim
violence in India in recent times, the
victims of which are yet to get justice.
Here she narrates to the writer the
traumatic murder of her family, her
struggle for survival and her present
involvement in seeking to promote
peace and communal harmony in
communally-polarised Gujarat.
I was born in a fairly well-off family.
I grew up with my grandparents and
parents. My grandfather wanted me
to marry in the same village. So he
found a boy of my own village who
was my cousin from my mother’s side.
He had done his secondary schooling
but the economic condition of his
family was not very sound. I was 13
at that time and told my family that I
would commit suicide if they forced
me to marry him but they did so.
Initially, I hated to live with my
husband’s family but my grandfather
convinced me and emotionally
blackmailed me. I started
supporting my husband by helping
him sell vegetables. Once my
husband had an offer of a
government job but he was asked
to pay a hefty bribe. My parents
were willing to pay the bribe to
help my husband have a better
future but he refused. He felt it
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
was against his honor to borrow from
his in-laws to pay the bribe. He
promised me a good life with his hard
labor. Because of our hard work our
business flourished and finally we had
to employ some local youths as
helping hands in the business.
On 27th February 2002, I had a
gynecological operation. I was in the
nursing home. The next day my
husband told me about the burning of
the train coach in Godhra. I was
frightened but he told me that police
had been deployed and that nothing
untoward would happen. He told the
doctors to take care of me and not to
worry about the money, promising to
be back the next morning.
On 1st March, mob attacked the
Muslim houses in my village Dahlol. I
intuitively did not want my husband
to go to the village but, owing to his
repeated insistence that the children
were alone, I could not stop him. A
customer of ours who is from the
majority community sheltered my
husband and the children in his house
when the mob went on a rampage. He
33
- Azim A.Khan Sherwani
insisted on sending our children to the
hospital, which he thought to be a safer
place. My husband reluctantly agreed.
My 13-year old daughter stayed with
her father. The same customer
dropped my son Suhail at the nursing
home. I was worried. I wanted to
know where my family was. He told
me not to worry. Very soon, he said,
everybody would join me, and he
assured me that they were safe in his
house.
In the evening the same person took
my family with him, telling them that
he was arranging for safe passage for
them. He took them towards the river
and on the way started shouting that
there were Muslims around. This was
a trap that he had laid. All at once, a
mob, armed with sharp weapons,
surrounded my family members. One
of my nephews ran to save his life and
hid behind huge bushes. But the mob
killed everybody one by one. They
begged for their life to be spared but
in vain. My 13 year-old daughter was
gang-raped and cut into pieces. After
killing everybody they burnt their
bodies. My nephew, who narrowly
escaped, was watching everything,
shaking with fear. He fled the place
when the mob went back to the
village. He came to the main road,
which connects Kalol, a town with
a substantial Muslim population.
The police found him, and asked
him to remove his trousers to see
if he was a Muslim. They kicked
him and abused him for being a
Muslim. He was thrown out of
the police jeep. Upon arriving Kalol
he narrated the incident to our
relatives and family friends.

I was still in the hospital and was not
told anything by our relatives. The next
day the mob came to the hospital in
search of me. The doctor told them
that I had been discharged and had
left the hospital. After this incident the
doctor was afraid that the mob might
come again in search of me. He
provided a set of clothes normally
worn by Hindu women to hide my
identity in case I was stopped on my
way to a safer place. After 15 days I
was sent to a relief camp in Qasimabad
in an Army vehicle. When I reached
the camp, my sister and other people
started crying. I wanted to
know about my husband, daughter and
other family members. They told me
that they were in a different relief
camp. I insisted that I want to speak
to them. One of my family friends
phoned me, pretending that he was my
husband, but I could easily make out
that it was a different voice. I guessed
that I lost everything. My life was
completely destroyed. My brother-in-
law started crying and revealed to me
that only thee members of our family
of 11 had survived.
The atmosphere in the relief camp was
depressing and frustrating. I had lost
everything but I had to live for my
son Suhail. We had to face so very
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
many problems. We could not go back
home. My brother-in-law wanted the
compensation money to be deposited
in his name. He thought I might take
the money and get married to someone
else and might not take care of my
son. I convinced him that I would take
care of my son for he was everything
to me now. In case I got married again,
I said, I would deposit the money in
his account.
I had so much pain in my heart and
was worried that I might go mad. I
started volunteering in the camp. At
that time some women’s group and
an NGO came to work for the
rehabilitation and access to justice for
the victims of the carnage. I joined
them as a volunteer initially. There was
a lot of opposition from some
conservative maulvis. They tried to
force me not to go out because I was
a widow and I had to perform the
religious duty of being isolated from
men for four months. I told them
categorically that I needed to work for
women like me who had lost
everything in the carnage. They needed
my support. There was also some
opposition from some of my distant
relatives.
It was really difficult to engage Hindus,
Dalits and Muslims in peace-building
initiatives. There was
complete mistrust of and hatred for
each other. Muslims said that the
Hindus had destroyed their life. What
kind of reconciliation, they asked, is
possible? But some people started
appreciating our work. They would
tell me, ‘You lost everything in the
carnage but you still don’t hate
Hindus. Rather, you try to engage
them. So, we should follow your path
of trying to promote peace and
counter hatred’.
Today, I have no one in my life except
Suhail. I am sad but now I am a
34
confident woman. I can relate to and
understand the problems of all other
women, Hindus, Dalits and Muslims.
Constant preaching of hatred against
Muslims for political purposes is the
root cause of communal violence in
Gujarat. I understand that it is the
Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad who are the main instigators
of anti-Muslim hatred in India and use
any opportunity to instigate violence
against them. During the mass violence
against Muslims there were many
Hindu families too who helped their
Muslim neighbors in providing shelter
or safe passage. Unfortunately,
however, in Gujarat today the
communal divide has increased. We
need to work hard in engaging youth,
women, Dalits and Adivasis to mobilize
for communal harmony.
In fact, all religions teach tolerance and
peace but some people interpret
religion with narrowness and to
generate hate against fellow human
beings. At times I ask myself that if
the different religions were made to
serve humanity then why are people
all over the world killing each other in
the name of religion?
I have devoted my life to the struggle
against communalism and for
empowering women. This and the
hope for a better future of my son are
my strength. I want to educate my
son and would like him to join
government service in Gujarat. There
is so much pain in my heart but I want
to channelise it to prevent a repeat of
what happened in Gujarat in 2002.
(Interview conducted by Azim
A.Khan Sherwani who is based in
Delhi and writes on human rights
and Muslim-related issues. He may
be contacted on
azimsherwani@gmail.com)

The Home Ground for Slavery
T
he tribal dominated district of
Sundargarh in Orissa is hugging
headlines recently but for all
wrong reasons. The SAIL managed
Rourkela Steel Plant, Basundhara the
largest coal mines in Asia, Orissa
Cement Limited at Rajgangpur, around
one hundred Sponge Iron Units; all
these may be the distinct geographical
features of Sundargarh but in the map
of human rights violation Sundargarh
bears the distinction of being the
largest supplier of slaves to the
metropolis of India. After receiving
several complaints with regard to this
booming slavery industry in
Sundargarh, Manavadhikar Samajik
Manch (MASM) decided to conduct
an independent enquiry and for that
MASM General Secretary Dr. Girija
B. Nanda and MASM Consultant Rajat
Kumar Kujur visited several places in
and around Sundargarh to gauge the
situation there. They talked to the
family members of the missing girls,
villagers and administrative officers as
well as the local
journalists.
The local newspapers
are coming out with
daily reports on the
supply of tribal girls
from Sundargarh.
However, neither the
district administration
nor the state
government have yet
come up with a
concrete plan to
check the most
ugliest and inhuman
practice that is
slavery.
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
Sundargarh:
It’s shocking but true that at the
moment more then 30,000 tribal girls
from Sundargarh are in Delhi. They
have been smuggled through a well-
coordinated network and are now
being subjected to severe inhuman
torture and pain. Majority among these
girls are minors who at the time of
going schools are being forced to do
such works, which are a disgrace to
the whole of humanity.
The Industrialization of Slavery
Sundargarh has several contradictions;
it is the industrial hub in Orissa at the
same it is also one of the poverty
stricken districts in the state. Due to
the booming mining industry a new
rich class has emerged in the locality;
at the same time among the educated
and uneducated tribal unemployment
35
has become a nagging problem.
Sundargarh has the only NIT of Orissa
yet the illiteracy and the drop out rates
are on rise. The innocent tribal
population has also become the victim
of urbanization for which they find it
rather difficult to avoid the glitters and
glamour of city life. Due to the desire
to earn more money the tribal girls
very often are trapped in the wrong
hands of human smuggling agents and
are sent to Delhi and other metropolis.
As derived from several reports there
are more then 300 so called placement
agencies which function as the control
room for this slavery industry. And the
irony is in these agencies mostly some
tribal youth have become the kingpin
of the trade. A visit to such placement
agencies shows that the ill-fated tribal
boys and girls are forced to live there
in the most inhuman conditions. The
girls once trapped find no scope for
honor and honesty. The same agents
who once showed them dreams of
good life, in reality exploit them and
take away all their
earnings. In most of
the cases the girls are
engaged in flesh
trade and if any girl
raises her voice then
they are victimized in
several false cases.
There are several
instances where the
dalals have left
thousands of girls
after making them
unmarried mothers.
We spoke to one of
such dalal in Delhi
and what we heard
 Record Book of Smuggled Girls From Sundargarh
(Compiled from various Oriya News Paper reports and informal interactions with the villagers)
from her is shocking. She said that
for every girl the dalal takes Rs 4000/
to Rs. 5000/ as commission from the
owner of the placement agency. In
addition to this the dalal is also entitled
to take one-month salary of the girl.
This lucrative incentive of dalals
makes them hunt for innocent tribal
girls and for this purpose one dalal on
an average visits Sundargarh three to
four time a month.
Meet a slave:
Following is an anthology of a few ill-
fated girls who were smuggled to
Delhi to work as slaves. How ever there
are thousands about whom there is no
news either with their family or with
the administration.
1. Sonamati Singh, Age 13 years,
Village: Bisra.
In August 2006, one lady dalal Suraj
Singh from neighboring Jharkhand
managed to smuggle Sonamati Singh
and Sarita from Bisra village that is
adjacent to the steel city of Rourkela.
After reaching Delhi Suraj Singh left
Sonamati in a placement agency in
Punjabi Bagh. There from the agency
sent her to work as a domestic help in
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
a Kothi where the owner made her to
go through most pathetic time in her
life. She was forced to work day and
night and was even denied of having
two full meals in a day. Worst, she
was even forced to clean the toilets in
the Kothi. After living in such inhuman
conditions she got infections with her
skin and mouth and instead providing
her with medication the owner thrashed
her mercilessly. When she complained
to the Placement Agency they also
helped her with slaps and kicks.
However, somehow she managed to
get in touch with one lady police
personnel of Delhi Police
who helped her to return to
her home in Orissa.
2. Basanti Munda, Age: 22
years, Village: Bhedabahal.
In 2004 Basanti fell into the
trap of one dalal and the
dalal after luring Basanti and
her family with an assurance
of Rs. 1700/ per month
took away Basanti to Delhi.
After reaching Delhi she was
enrolled in one ‘Elite
Manpower Consultant’ from
where she was sent to a
36
family to work as a maidservant.
However, after working for about 3
months Basanti was not paid even a
single pie and whenever she
complained to the placement agency
they threatened her. Harassed from
every quarter Basanti secretly managed
to send a letter to her family and after
that her family filed a FIR against the
placement agency in the local police
station. And when the local police
contacted the Delhi Police, luckily
Basanti was sent back to her home.
3. Shanti Jojo, Age: 14 years, Village:
Tensa.
During 2004, Shanti went to
Jharkhand to meet one of her relatives.
The same relative lured her with the
promise of a handsome salary and
took her to Delhi. After reaching Delhi
the inhuman relative of Shanti sold her
to a placement agency for mere Rs.
5000/. After that Shanti was exploited
in various ways in many places in Delhi
for next 2 years. Somehow, she was
rescued by Delhi Police and was
handed over to one social organization.
She was tortured in such a way that
when rescued she was not in proper
frame of mind even to recall her
permanent address. During a time
when girls of her age goes to school
and dreams for a golden future Shanti

was forced to go through the ugliest
form of human rights violation and
human exploitation.
4. Pauline Jojo, Age: 20 years,
Village: Jadakudar
In the year 2002 one Philmina Ekka
visited the house of Uday Jojo in Disco
Chowk, Jadakudar under the
Brahmanitarang Police station. There
he met Pauline, daughter of Uday, and
lured her with several monetary
advantages. Despite of resistance
from her family, Pauline left her home
to earn money and went to Delhi with
Philmina Ekka. Till 2004, Pauline was
regularly in touch with her family but
after that there is absolutely no
information about her whereabouts.
5. Muni Kumhar, Age: 20 years,
Village: Badmaren.
In the year 2002 Mangra Kumhar
received two unusual visitors in his
residence at Pahadtola basti, Maren
under the Brahmanitarang Police
station. One local lady name Haha
Kerketta accompanied by Nicholas
Kerketta, visited Mangra’s house in
that fateful day and manged to lure
Munni Kumhar daughter of Mangra
to go to Delhi to earn more money.
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
Accordingly Munni went to
Delhi with Nicholas and
event sent some money with
Nicholas. But that was long
back and soon her family lost
touch with her. Today they
are completely ignorant
about the life of Munni.
Whenever they ask Nicholas
or Haha about Munni they
always give contradictory
answers.
These are the few cases,
which have come to the
limelight, but the story does
not end there. There are
thousands of Munni,
Pauline, Shanti and Basanti whose fate
still is unknown.
Conclusion:
Even though local people are now
aware of the exploitive vicious slave
network, painfully they admit that they
have no choice really. When they
cannot provide two full meals to their
daughters how can they prevent them
from going out? It is the painful reality
of the prevalent development model in
37
Sundargarh where people are coming
in large numbers from within and
outside the state to get a job in
hundreds of industries located here,
the local innocent tribal are selling off
themselves to earn their bread. On
the other hand, the government has
failed miserably from its commitment
of tribal development and Women
empowerment. The local
representatives who are mostly tribal
are yet to take a stand on this serious
issue of human exploitation. It is quite
surprising that the administration is yet
to come out with a concrete plan to
check the human smuggling in
Sundargarh even though there have
been several such incidents in last one
month time where the police arrested
the dalals along with the victims from
the Railway stations. With this, we at
Manavadhikar Samajik Manch urge to
all concerned to take steps for the
immediate closure of this booming
slave industry in Sundargarh. Because
it is polluting the whole of humanity
and it has put a big question mark over
our commitment for the protection of
human rights.
- HT Bureau.

Need of Stronger Guidelines & Safer Legal Validation
T
he problem of abandoned
children is of great magnitude
in India. Placement of these
children in a family environment is
essential for their physical, mental and
emotional development. Thus
adoption must be approached from the
child welfare perspective.
New Adoption Bill
Last month Indian Parliament passed
an Act on child adoption. The Bill for
the first time defines “adoption” in
absolute terms. It says adoption is a
process through which the adopted
child is permanently separated from
his biological parents and becomes the
legitimate child of the adoptive parents
with all the rights, privileges and
responsibilities that are attached to the
relationship.
The new Bill also makes it mandatory
on the States to set up child protection
homes in each district. So far, the law
had left it to the discretion of the States
to have such homes. This new Bill is
an improvised act to the previous one
to limit child adoption in the country to
citizens of India only to check the trend
of child trafficking. On the floor, the
Minister for Women and Child Welfare
Renuka Choudhary said while in-house
adoption would be encouraged, inter-
country adoption could also be
considered. The Minister also said while
Government is for a stricter adoption
law, anybody can adopt any child
irrespective of their religion.
The Bill proposes to have district
courts to conduct adoption
proceedings for easy accessibility.
Other Salient features of the Bill
include applicability to people
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
Adoption:
irrespective of their religion, race,
caste and sex; removal of the gender
barrier of the adoptive child for parents
who already have a child of same sex,
whether adopted or biological;
provisions for working parents to take
leave after the adoption in order to be
with the child during the initial phase,
and providing the adoptive child with
the same rights as a biological child (
such as granting a child the right to
inherit his/her adoptive parents’
property, which WAGA doesn’t
provide and Juvenile Justice Act makes
no mention of).
A Critical Assessment of In-house
Adoption
When the government says that the in-
house adoption would be encouraged,
first we have to look at the current status
of our in-house adoption. Still in our
country, the demand for boys remains
significantly higher. Though it is seen
mostly in Northern India, that is
balanced by the Southern States, where
38
girls are more in demand. Also across
the country, more girls are available
because more girls are abandoned. But
even that situation has improved. Earlier
80% of the children in the institutions
were girls; now that is closer to 60%.
There are also different rules for
different religions. According to the
Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act,
only Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists
can adopt legally. Adoptions by Indian
Christians and Muslims, as well as
foreigners, come under the Guardians
and Wards Act of 1890 and are
classified as guardianship, which
officially ends when the child reaches
18. This distinction can affect a child’s
inheritance rights, so adoption workers
recommend parents in such cases
deposit money in the child’s name
immediately. Even none of the three
previous major adoption laws “the Hindu
Adoption and Maintenance Act of 1956
(HAMA), the Guardians and Wards Act
of 1890 (GAWA) and the Juvenile
Justice Care and Protection of the Child
Act, 2000” is currently in force in the
country. While the HAMA is applicable
only to Hindus, the GAWA is applicable
to non-Hindus. The Juvenile Justice
Care and Protection of Child Act applies
to Indians belonging to any caste,
community or creed, but under this law,
only the juvenile justice board can grant
the adoption.
A Critical Assessment of Inter-
Country Adoption
Article 39 and 44 of the Constitution
say that the children and youth should
be protected from moral and material
exploitation. This law might explain
why inter-country adoption is a time
consuming and thorough process. The
adoption of the Children Bill 1980,
stated under clause 23 and 24 that only
section 24 makes it legal to adopt a
child who is a citizen of India. Any
individual breaching sub-section (1 by
making provision or placing the child
in care or the custody of parents
outside India shall be punishable by
law. There are some pre-requisites for
inter-country adoption of Indian
children. The overseas country must
have appropriate adoption laws under
which a child from India can be
lawfully adopted. There is a need for
proper immigration laws for the legal
immigration of the child and apt
citizenship laws also. The foreign
welfare society can apply directly to
the Indian welfare society for an inter-
country adoption license. All
applications for adoption have to be
presented by these agencies.
Not all social welfare agencies and
institutions are empowered to issue
intercountry adoption license. All
Indian welfare agencies with the power
to issue license have to be authorized
by the Social welfare Ministry of India.
The collaborating Indian agency needs
to inform the foreign agency about the
age of the children, emotional and
physical health, education, background
and any other related information. In
India, due to lack of uniform adoption
laws, different religious and ethnic
groups dictate these laws. The
Supreme Court judgment of 1984 and
its following analysis provided
guidelines for the intercountry adoption
of India. These guiding principles are
based on the Hindu Adoption Act
(1956), the Guardians and wards Act
(1980), and the Juvenile Justice Act
(1986). The main motive behind the
formulation of this guideline was to
protect the rights of all the Indian
children adopted by foreigners.
According to these guidelines, Indian
children should be placed with Indian
parents. They will only be allowed for
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
intercountry adoption when parents of
Indian origin are not accessible. These
agencies in India have to ensure that
the child is eligible for adoption
according to Juvenile Justice Act
(1986). The child has to be preferably
less than three years of age so that he/
she can adjust adequately to the new
environment. The foreign adoption
agency needs to propel a written
application for each prospective family
and also a home report study as per
the rules. The social welfare agency
applying for an adoption license needs
to submit a license issued by their
respective country as well as
documents requested by the Indian
welfare agency. The Indian social
welfare agency then will send a letter
of notification about its decision.
Some prospective parents visit India
to meet the child. The Indian welfare
agency can employ a lawyer to file an
appeal in the state court to grant the
custody of the child to the prospective
parents according to the Guardians
and Wards Act (1980). The court is
entitled to grant the custody of the
child or allow the child to travel to the
respective country where he will be
adopted. The appointment of the
guardian is stated under section 7 of
the Guardian and wards Act 1980,
which gives the court the option of
appointing a guardian for the welfare
of the child. Section 8 states that the
guardian should be either any person
keen of being a guardian, a friend or a
relative or the District Collector.
There are lots of International
intercountry adoptions guidelines like
Rights of Children Resolution (1959)
formulated by the UN General
Assembly. The guidelines developed
by adoption of the Children Bill (1980).
Adoption is a way through which a
destitute child can lead a normal and
healthy life. This should be encouraged
to provide a better life to millions of
39
homeless and orphaned children all
over the world.
Adoption: Not a popular Option
According to the Central Adoption
Resource Agency (CARA), 1707
children were adopted in India last year.
(This figure does not include agencies
not registered with CARA, but with
state governments for domestic
adoptions only. Because of the large
number of such agencies, CARA
estimates the actual domestic figure
is two to three times as high.)
In addition, 1021 children were cleared
for foreign and non-resident Indian
families to adopt. But looking at the
international statistics given below, one
can say that adoption is not a popular
option in our country, though there is
an unbelievable high in the last year.
Why adoption is not a popular option
in our country? Many childless couples
are still adopting the children of other
family, but these children are generally
looked on as risky, only because of legal
validation. There is always a fear of
disapproval. Therefore, the adoption
law needs to become easier, safer and
more transparent.
Conclusion
Adoption establishes a parent-child
relationship between persons not so
related by the birth of the child. For
the parentless or the abandoned child,
adoption means a balanced physical
and psychologically family
environment and to the desirous
parents and experience family growth.
It is one of the means of solving the
problems of destitute and orphans. It
is also a way of satisfying the interest
of person who is childless. So there
must be strong guidelines and concrete
legislation to encourage the prevailing
practice of adoption.
- HT Bureau
 Human Rights Violation:
Sorry Tale of Little Girl
Caroline
Five days after the Madras High Court
asked the police to take action on
alleged kidnap, forced marriage and
rape of 16-year-old girl Caroline, by a
48-year-old cinema financier
K.Kannan, the Chennai police is still
not been able lay its hands on the
accused. And the four police personel,
who had allegedly helped the financier
marry the girl, and against whom a
case has been registered, seem to have
disappeared.
The case came to limelight when
Thangaraj, a retired head constable,
Caroline’s father approached the court
seeking help in tracing his daughter
who was allegedly kidnapped by
Kannan and his associates.
Caroline, who had modeled for an ad
film for a computer firm, was
interested in acting in movies. She was
introduced to Kannan through a cinema
broker. Kannan immediately became
infatuated with Caroline and asked her
to marry him, as ‘he had never been
so attracted to a woman before’. He
reportedly promised to make her the
heroine of his film Thottaal Poo
Malarum, but he wanted her to
promise him that she would marry him
after the movie was made. However
the girl and his family refused and
escape his advances; they were forced
to vacate their house in Royapuram
and shift to Nasapakkam.
Somehow, Kannan reportedly found
their new address and continued to
Vol. III No.10 October 2006
pursue the young girl to marry him.
But the family refused to accept his
marriage proposal; Kannan reportedly
lodged a complaint with Mylapore
police saying that Caroline’s father
owed him Rs.Three lakhs.
Surprisingly, instead of taking action
against Kannan, based on his
complaint, the police started harassing
Caroline’s parents and visiting their
house frequently. In order to keep
away from Police and Kannan, the
Caroline family paid Rs.80,000/- to the
cops and went to Pondicherry to settle
down. But on July 6, 2006, with
pressure from Kannan, a police team
arrested the Caroline family from
Pondichery and took the girl and
handed her over to Kannan.
Later in a house in Mambalam, Kannan
garlanded the girl himself, and the
procedure was photographed by one
of the policemen. Caroline was then
taken to Madurai where Kannan
‘married’ her again, and she was later
taken to a farmhouse in Andipatti where
they lived the ‘first night’ together.
When the case came up in the court,
the girl was handed over to an all
women police station in Andipatti and
produced in the court.
All these happened against her will and
without her consent. Till date the
accused and police officers who have
abetted the crime are absconding.
40
This is not an isolated incident.
Everyday if you open any news paper
or switch on Television news
channels, you can read or see such
news. Showing concern over such
crimes, Human Touch urge the
National Human Rights Commission,
Tamilnadu Human Rights
Commission, Director General Police,
Tamilnadu and all concerns to
investigate into the matter and punish
the accused including the Police
Officers.
Free Distribution of
Television Sets from
Public Money Violates
Constitutional Norms
The Tamilnadu government has now
ventured on a free distribution of colour
television sets (CTV) and the
distribution has now started and will
be continue in a phased manner. The
Chief Minister of Tamilnadu Shri. M.
Karunanidhi has stated that by that
time when his Ministry completes its
five-year period in the office the entire
 citizen would have been educated up investments and how the benefits from
to minimum primary level. such investments from the exchequer
can be diverted to the pockets of
Further the Tamilnadu government is private parties. The CAG should
distributing CTVs with the taxpayer’s examine the measures to be adopted
money from the state exchequer. Again to prevent such diversions and steps
it is also alleged that the firm which to be taken to recover the money from
supplied the CTV is also connected the private parties. The CAG should
with the Chief Ministers family. It is a also suggest action to be taken against
matter of high concern. The those who are responsible for this
Government of India including the fraud on the nation and the people.
National Planning Commission must
examine whether an investment of We firmly feel that the distribution of
similar nature by the government of free CTV is done without any
populatin in Tamilnadu will be having
Tamilnadu can be allowed. constitutional direction or approved
a CTV set. I have gone through the
plan outlay and urge the government
Constitution of India in detail and I
Further the government should also to investigate into the matter and take
have not found a single article which
examine whether the diversion of the strong action against the culprits.
directs the State and Union
benefits from the State’s investments
Government to provide free CTV to
to third parties not connected with the (The case has been referred to us
citizens.
government amounts to by our member Dr. R. K.
misappropriation of funds of the State. Balasubramanian who is Patron,
Though the Constitution laid down
It also should examine the steps to be All India Non Government / Non
several articles to provide compulsory
taken to prevent the benefits going to University Faculty Members of
and free primary education to all, but
the pockets of private parties and the Higher Education Association,
nothing has been mentioned about free
benefits accrue to the State’s Mylaore, Chennai and Principal
distribution of daily use items or
exchequer only. Parliamentary Counsel, Bureau of
electronic goods. Everyone like me
Parliamentary Work)
would have been pleased with the
Further we also feel that it is the
Tamilnadu government if the Hon’ble
constitutional duty of the Controller
Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi has
and Auditor General (CAG) of India
stated that by time his government
to investigate the question of - HT Bureau
completes the five year period, every
investments in such non-productive

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rd
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