NHRC notice to Chhattisgarh govt on ‘sexual assault’ by cops

Commission finds prima facie evidence of assault on 16 women

Sixteen women were prima facie found to be sexually and physically assaulted by Chhattisgarh Police personnel, as per the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which issued a show-cause notice to the State government on Saturday.

News reports, complaints

The NHRC was hearing the matter of alleged sexual assault by police personnel in Chhattisgarh, based on complaints that it received in 2016, as well as a news report from November, 2015 that it took suo motu cognisance of certain news reports. As per the reports and complaints, several women were assaulted by police personnel in the Bijapur, Sukma and Dantewada districts of Chhattisgarh. Looking at the “gravity of the allegations”, the full Bench of the NHRC considered the matter on February 22, 2016 and ordered an investigation into the case. The NHRC team recorded the statements of some of the security personnel and victims, but was unable to reach out to all the victims mentioned in the FIRs filed in the cases.

Monetary relief

While it is yet to record the statements of 20 of the women, the NHRC has found that 16 of them were prima facie assaulted by police personnel. Issuing a notice to the Chhattisgarh Chief Secretary, the NHRC asked why it should not recommend an interim monetary relief of ₹ 37 lakh for the 16 victims. The amount includes ₹ 3 lakh for each of the eight victims of rape, ₹ 2 lakh for each of the six victims of sexual assault and ₹ 50,000 each for the two victims of physical assault.

‘State is liable’

“The Commission has observed that it is of the view that, prima facie, human rights of the victims have been grossly violated by the security personnel of the government of Chhattisgarh for which the State government is vicariously liable,” said an NHRC statement.

The statements of the remaining victims would be recorded within a month, either by a new NHRC investigation team or the magistrate concerned.