Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service

NGO claims to have rescued child labourer

Parents say the child was brought to city to send to school

A local NGO, Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), claimed to have rescued a domestic child labourer from a house in Madhurapuri Colony in Dilsukhnagar on Thursday.

However, parents of the child, seven-year-old Jyothi, and the house-owners, have refuted the NGO's claims and say the child was brought from her village in Nalgonda to be sent to a school in the city.

The Saroornagar police have registered a case and are investigating.

House `raided'

Earlier in the day, HRLN activists led by Sujatha Chityala, along with a constable from the Saroornagar police station, "raided" the house of Prabhakar Reddy, an engineer working in Jagityal.

Denial

Though Mr. Reddy's wife Swarna and the child's parents, Boja Naik and Laxmi, who were also present in the house, denied that the child was working as a servant there, the activists said they had been observing the house and the child after they received a phone call four days ago complaining about children being made to work in the house.

Letter from Parents

Ms. Chityala said the police had agreed to take a letter from the child's parents binding them to send the child to school.
If the letter was not given, the police would send the child to a residential school, she added.

This report is availble at: www.hindu.com/2005/11/04/stories/2005110417220300.htm

Campaign against child sexual abuse launched

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI MARCH 3. A recent study of 357 female students in Delhi reveals that 63 per cent of them had suffered some form of child sexual abuse (CSA). Sakshi, the organisation that conducted the study, also found that 22 per cent fell in the category of very serious abuse, and the abusers in 20 per cent of the cases were persons they had complete faith in -- fathers, relatives or family friends.

Recognising the need for collective action to combat such abuse, which is rampant but insidious, six non-government organisations (NGOs) from the Capital today launched a national campaign against child sexual abuse. The campaign, by the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), Snehi, Angaja Foundation, Saarthak, Butterflies and Haq, aims to create awareness and sensitise stakeholders including the police, judiciary, lawyers and doctors in dealing with cases of CSA, break the myths and social stigma associated with the offence, provide a platform for people to discuss the issue, and work with the stakeholders to establish an alternative support system for the victims.

The vice-chairperson of Snehi, Jyoti Uplenchwar, called for the police, judiciary and doctors to cooperate with NGOs so that the victim was comforted and not traumatised further.

Ms. Uplenchwar spoke of the immense psychological trauma a child goes through after he or she is abused. "The trauma also affects the future of the child,'' she said. Representatives from other NGOs also highlighted the fact that several cases of CSA went unreported due to parents' fear of social ostracism and the child was often made to feel ashamed and guilty, resulting in self-blame and long-term psychological damage to the child.

“Unless NGOs intervene, the child receives no help from any government agency,'' said Raka Sinha Bal of the Angaja Foundation. She said that the system was not sensitive to the child victim. Some of the NGOs are involved in sensitising and training judges of the lower courts and police officers in dealing with such cases.

Convenor of the campaign and Director, HRLN, Aparna Bhat, pointed out that there was much delay and harassment to the victim through the justice delivery system itself. Javed Abidi, uncle of a four-year-old child abused by a teacher in the recent case at Mirambika school, said the family's experience with the system had been extremely frustrating. After the child gave his statement to the Metropolitan and Link Magistrates, the case was transferred to the court of another magistrate after an application filed by the defence lawyers without the knowledge of the victim's family. "We have found that many other countries have far more child-friendly laws than India,'' he asserted.

Ms. Bhat felt that the law did not deal with the offence adequately. This was also reportedly the complaint of judges and prosecutors in a study conducted in the lower courts. As of now, punishment for child sexual abuse is handed down after interpretation of laws related to offences against women. She advocated amendment of the law providing for in-camera hearings, in cases where children were the victims, to allow a person they were comfortable with and an NGO representative to assist them during the trial. Ms. Bhat added that the accused need not be present at the trial, as this only added to the child's mental agony.

This report is available at: www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2003/03/04/stories/2003030406100400.htm

SURVEY IN FIVE CITIES
Even judges won’t go to court to file child sexual abuse case
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 3
The trauma of being molested and the ostracism that ensues are further compounded by the lack of adequate laws to punish the offenders and the delay in trial, claim NGOs and psychologists working with the victims of child sexual abuse.

Highlighting the claim, the National Campaign Against Child Sexual Abuse (NCACSA) pointed out that during a survey of 109 judges across five cities, 90 per cent revealed that in case of domestic violence involving their daughter or a female relative, they would not opt for a legal redressal.

“There are no laws for sexual abuse of children; we have to resort to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with outraging a woman’s modesty, to fight sexual abuse of children,” pointed out Ms Aparna Bhatt, convenor of the NCACSA.

The NCACSA is now looking forward to creating a common platform for the stakeholders and to generate awareness about sexual abuse of children. “The law is yet to be passed by the government, despite it being aware of the trauma that a victim has to undergo at various stages of trial,” said Ms Raka Sinha of Anugoonj, a child rights’ organisation.

It is being alleged that because of delays in the trials and the insensitivity in handling the case, more often than not, the victim is compelled to bow out. This in turn leads to more acquittals than convictions.

“The parents are hounded. The victim is made to go through the trauma of having to narrate the gruesome incident various times. And the apathy of the police and the medical experts are reasons why most victims end up regretting filing a complaint,” added Ms Raka Sinha.

The psychologists point out that delay in trial leads to an increase in the child’s vulnerability. The NCACSA is also aiming at creating awareness amongst people vis-à-vis the risk of molestation at home, workplace and educational institutions. It is pointed out that abusers can be family members and abuse can happen anywhere.

Acknowledging that there is a pressing need for fast trials and child-friendly examinations, the NCACSA has proposed that medical examination of children should be permitted by private practitioners and arrangements should be made to prevent the child from having to testify in front of the abuser and the police officials must be adequately trained to handle the cases.

“There is no need to have the child repeat every detail in front of the perpetrators. A child should be allowed to make a statement in front of those who he or she is comfortable with and the police and the medicos should work together,” added Ms Aparna Bhatt.

Psychologists point out that the impact of the trauma in a child may not be revealed for months and years, but the impact can be minimised by doing the needful.

This report is available at: www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030304/ncr1.htm

FIR registered in Rajwinder’s case
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 25

Taking suo-motu congnizance of a Tribune report on the plight of 14-year-old Rajwinder of Mukerian, who was allegedly sold off and then forcibly married to a 32-year-old Bhan Singh, the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) today marked an inquiry to the Deputy Commissioner of Hoshiarpur. An FIR into the case has also been registered now.

A Full Bench of the commission, headed by its Chairman Justice N.K. Jain, directed the Hoshiarpur DC to carry out a thorough probe into the matter and take necessary action. The commission has also sought a report from the state Home Department in the matter and has sought for the DC’s probe report by August 22, when the commission would again take up the case for further hearing.

Taking serious note of the gravity of allegations in the complaint, the commission today noted: “We call for the report of the state Home Department and also of the DC, Hoshiarpur, under Section 17 (I) of the Protection of Human Rights Act. The SSP, Hoshiarpur, may also take necessary action into the matter.”

Incidentally, two weeks after the traumatised sisters Rajwinder and her elder sister Sukhwinder made several representations to the district police authorities, the Mukerian police is also reported to have registered an FIR in the case finally.

Speaking to The Tribune, Hoshiarpur Deputy Commissioner D.K. Tewari, said “Immediately after reading the report, I followed up the case with SSP, Hoshiarpur, Mr Lok Nath Angra, who told me that an FIR had been registered against accused Bhan Singh and others in the case.”

The police authorities in Hoshiarpur also said that they would look into the matter of delay in the registration of the FIR and necessary action against the erring officers would be initiated soon.

The FIR has been registered under Sections 4,5,6 of the Child Marriages Restraint Act and under Sections 376/120-B of the IPC, for rape of a minor girl.

Meanwhile, complainants in the case raised apprehensions about the registration of the FIR, alleging “it seems to have been registered in back date”.

The victim’s elder sister, Sukhwinder, said “we have been running from pillar to post to get a case registered. Finally, we had to take legal help from human rights lawyers in Chandigarh. If the police had registered an FIR, they should at least have cared to inform us. We only hope, fairness prevails and the accused are brought to book”.

Back in Chandigarh, where the two sisters are now lodged at a short stay home, Ms Veena Sharma of the Human Rights Law Network, is representing their case in the PSHRC.

She has helped them file a complaint under the Human Rights Act against Bhan Singh, who forcibly married Rajwinder; Bhan Singh’s mother Bimal Kaur, who facilitated the marriage; Rani, Rajwinder’s relative who struck the deal; Des Raj, a municipal councillor of Urmar Tanda in Mukerian, who attended the wedding and pressured Rajwinder’s family to send her back to Bhan Singh.

The report is also available at: www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050726/punjab1.htm - 4

 The Hindu

Attempting to spread awareness among the differently-abled community about rights, the Human Rights Law Network and the National Federation of the Blind on Saturday organised a symposium on "Disability and the Law'' in the Capital.

Inaugurating the two-day seminar, a book "Disability and the Law'', a compendium of over a hundred judgments in the matter of access, employment, education and other issues pertaining to the disability sector, was also released on the occasion by Justice Y. Bhaskar Rao of the National Human Rights Commission.

Issues that were discussed during the symposium on Saturday included the use of Braille in Electronic Voting Machines, information about government schemes, access to information, Braille markings on currency notes, the lack of facilities and schemes for the mentally ill, use of computers for the visually challenged during examinations, the availability of sign language interpreters for the speech and hearing impaired, reservation and identification of posts for persons with disability, delay in court cases and the costs of litigation.

Giving an insight into the landmark judgements of positive use of law and the judicial process to facilitate and enable a non-discriminatory approach based on equal opportunities, Justice A.K. Sikri of the Delhi High Court lauded the efforts of the non-governmental organisations in bringing about the attitudinal shift in the sector from welfare and charity to a rights perspective.

He also spoke about the three per cent reservation in Delhi University colleges for the differently-abled.

The participants were mainly human rights lawyers, visually impaired activists.

 This article is accessible at www.hindu.com/2005/05/29/stories/2005052909480400.htm

Tribune News Service

Over 100 experts from all over the country are expected to attend a two-day human rights and mental health convention being held from October 29 at the ICSSR hall in Panjab University at Chandigarh.

The Hindu

A report on the tsunami survivors in the Andaman Islands, by HRLN, Delhi reveals their plight and the inefficacy and apathetic attitude of government officials that has added to the woes of the victims.

The Hindu

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday released a handbook on employment of persons with disabilities in the Government. Releasing the publication, NHRC chairperson Justice A.S. Anand emphasised that the approach to persons with disabilities needed to shift from "welfare" to a "rights-based" approach. "Litigation around disability issues is a living example of the indifference and ignorance on the part of State authorities," he said.

Speaking at the release, NHRC's Special Rapporteur on Disability Anuradha Mohit said the handbook was aimed at legal practitioners, administrators, labour lawyers and persons with disabilities. "The rules that govern reservation for employment of disabled persons in the government are so elaborate that any administrator would find it difficult to keep track," she said.

The handbook is the result of a project launched jointly with the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2003, and has been compiled in collaboration with the Human Rights Law Network. Mr. Justice Anand also released a compilation of international human rights instruments in Hindi in three volumes.

 This article is accessible at www.hindu.com/2006/05/03/stories/2006050307381300.htm

Tribune News Service

The high rate of discrimination, social segregation, caste violence and atrocities against Dalits in Punjab came under severe criticism at a two-day workshop on “Dalit rights and legal intervention” which concluded here today.

The Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) and a Supreme Court advocate, Mr Colin Gonsalves, stressed the need for meticulous drafting of facts, prompt registration of the FIRs and general awareness about Dalit atrocities and various provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The Regional Director of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes,Mr Tanzin Wangyal, lamented that no compensation was paid to the Dalit victims of atrocities and the conviction rate was as low as 3 per cent in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal.

The secretary of the Punjab unit of the National Campaign on Dalit Rights(NCDHR), Mr Rajesh Angral, discussed various atrocities on Dalits such as rape, suicides by victims, kidnapping, bonded labour and murders. The Director of the local HRLN centre, Ms Veena Kumari, highlighted her organisation’s work in ensuring legal defence mechanism for the victim of caste oppression in Punjab.

Prominent among those, who spoke on the occasion, included Mr B.C. Rajput, Member of the Punjab State University Teachers’ Association, Dr Ronki Ram, president of the Panjab University Teachers’ Association, Mr Mohinder Singh, Punjab state convener of the NCDHR, and Ms Pratistha, legal secretary of the Delhi unit of the NCDHR.

This article is accessible at www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050131/cth1.htm

The Hindu

The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Centre, all States and Union Territories, the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for SC & ST on a petition seeking effective measures to prevent atrocities on Dalits.

A Bench consisting of Justices Ruma Pal, Dalveer Bhandari and Markandey Katju issued the notice on Monday on the plea by the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, Sakshi--Human Rights Watch and the Centre for Dalit Rights.

The petitioners wanted a direction issued to the respondents to appoint nodal officers and set up protection cells, as envisaged under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989.

They said the victims were not allowed to make complaints and first information reports were rarely registered. Even when they were registered, there was no reference to proper sections of the Act. The victims were invariably forced to compromise on pain of social/economic boycott.  

Separate special courts should be set up in each district within six months as provided under the Act. All cases of atrocities on the Dalits and tribals must be regularly monitored by judicial officers.

Such cases should receive top priority and the victims should get speedy justice.

The petitioners also sought a direction to trial courts to send a report every six months to the High Court concerned.

This article is accessible at www.hindu.com/2006/04/12/stories/2006041208121400.htm

Taking note of the plight of 37-year-old woman and her two-year-old daughter who have been fighting a lone battle against AIDS for six months in Bathinda, the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) yesterday directed the Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, to look into the matter personally and provide the maximum help permissible under the law while keeping in mind human considerations.

The case came to light when volunteers of the Sahara Jan Seva discovered the woman and her daughter in a miserable condition in the Baba Deep Singh locality in Bathinda on December 2. The victims’ house was found full of liquid and solid waste and without electricity. Thereafter, the woman and her child were admitted to the Civil Hospital by the volunteers, where doctors described their condition as critical.

The PSHRC took cognizance on a complaint by Ms Veena Kumari, Coordinator, Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), stating that after the death of the woman’s husband, a truck driver, she was disowned by her in-laws as well as her parents. Now the woman along with her daughter was living in a miserable condition. The doctors confirmed that the woman and her child had tested HIV positive and were being kept in a separate ward, the NGO added. 
This  article is accessible at www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031207/punjab1.htm

Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, August 25, 2005,

Chandigarh, India

Passing Thru

What is your immediate concern?

Non-availability of ARV drugs and discrimination against the HIV-infected are the main concerns. It is vague that the GOI should supply free ARV drugs in high-prevalence states which are only six. I don’t understand the logic behind categorising states as low and high-prevalence. Does the government mean it will wait to supply life-saving drugs until AIDS gets beyond control in the so-called low-prevalence states?

What, in your estimation, is the extent of fresh HIV + cases in India?

As per government figures, fresh cases are 23,000 a year. But a single district in Karnataka recently revealed 3,000 fresh cases. It’s strange that before 2004, the Government only had an AIDS prevention policy. Treatment was not part of its duty. It was only when the Voluntary Health Association of Punjab in association with us filed a petition in the Supreme Court and demanded supply of ARV drugs for the AIDS-infected that the then Health Minister Sushma Swaraj accepted treatment as part of government policy.

— Aditi Tandon

The article is available at:
www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050825/cth1.htm

TIMESNEWS NETWORK

Unmindful of complaints about judiciary’s encroachment into the executive domain, Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the Centre to set up a minimum of 14 lakh Anganwadi centres by 2008 to give nutrition supplements to poor children, adolescent girls and pregnant and lactating mothers in rural areas, especially in SC/ST populated localities.

At present there are nearly 10 lakh Anganwadi centres functioning as part of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) under which the Centre and the States equally share the financial burden of spending Rs 2 per child per day, Rs 2.70 per malnourished child, and Rs 2.30 per pregnant, lactating mother or
adolescent girl.

While directing substantial increase in the number of Anganwadis, a Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia said: "In doing so, the Central government shall identify SC and ST hamlets/habitations for Anganwadi centres on priority basis."

It asked the states and Union territories to submit affidavits with details of all habitations with a majority of SC/ST households, the availability of Anganwadis there and the plan of action to set up adequate number of centres in these areas.

The rural community, as well as slum clusters, have a right to an Anganwadi if they have at least 40 children under the age of six years, and their demand for this facility should be met within three months, the Bench said.

This article is accessible at timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/808639.cms

Light of Andamans

HRLN and other organizations do remarkable work in the process of advocacy, relief recovery and regenaration

Indian Express, New Delhi

In response to a PIL filed by HRLN on behalf of the tsunami affected families the Supreme Court gave a slew of directions to the local administration for timely and speedy rehabilitation.

The Hindu

The relentless suffering of the people of the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the last two years is more horrifying than the tsunami that struck the islands on December 26, 2004, says a Human Rights Law Network report.

The report, based on an on-the-spot assessment, says it has been two years since the tsunami washed over the islands and destroyed the homes and livelihood of its residents. Although the Government made a lot of promises and spent a lot of taxpayers' money, very little actual relief and rehabilitation work has been done. Most islanders are still awaiting compensation.

Two years after, the homeless survivors of the tsunami look for straws of hope in the once pristine, now devastated islands. As people struggle to survive in hot, subhuman tin sheds, with no food security, electricity, education, basic health or livelihood, the terrible question, says the report, comes back: where have all the massive aid and big promises disappeared?

Describing the condition of houses, the report says the shabby temporary housing built in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami has not been replaced by permanent housing. Instead of ensuring that people are able to return to farming or fishing or trade, the islands' economy is being parcelled out to vested interests from the mainland. The environmental degradation is reaching crisis proportions.

The Government repeatedly promised the people that they would get permanent housing. But, apart from the model houses constructed for display, not a single house has been built for the 10,000-tsunami survivors. Instead of allowing the people to construct traditional houses made of wood, a prefabricated model of tubular steel is being imported from the mainland, obviously for the benefit of contractors and bureaucrats.

The people have no idea of how this structure is to be maintained or repaired. It is frightening to think of what these beautiful islands will look like 10 years from now with 10,000 prefabricated steel structures rusting and in disrepair.

It says the people asked for boats and nets so that they could resume fishing and get back to living as normal a life as possible.

Their jetties had to be repaired so that the boats could dock. Cold storages had to be made so that fishing could become a commercially viable proposition.

In many of the islands, the boats have yet to come, nets are yet to be distributed, jetties remain destroyed and cold storages do not exist. There is fish in the sea but not for the tribals of the islands. 

The other source of traditional livelihood is coconut plantations, but these have been destroyed. The seedlings planted will take seven years to yield fruits.

This article is available at www.hindu.com/2006/12/27/stories/2006122722391600.htm

Notices to Centre, States, Union Territories, on petition from National Campaign Committee for Central Legislation on Construction Labour

HRLN files PIL on behalf of NCC-CL. SC issues notice asking why law intended to protect over 31 million workers not implemented.

The Hindu 

The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has asked the State Government to appoint Marriage Officers within a month so as to immediately implement `The AP Compulsory Registration of Marriages Act, 2002'. The Act envisages compulsory registration of every marriage in the legal age group.

The commission passed the orders two days ago alarmed over the menace of child marriages which peak at this time of the year when Sivaratri was celebrated. It felt that the problem could be checked effectively only if the legislation came into force but unfortunately there was no implementing agency.

SHRC Chairman Justice B. Subhashan Reddy told reporters that it was recommended to the Government to appoint a Registrar-General of Marriages at the State-level, District Registrar of Marriages and sub-ordinate marriage authorities in the local bodies. To save the State exchequer, the SHRC suggested that officers of the Registration Department handling registers of births and deaths could be delegated the powers.

He expected child marriages to be rooted out in due course as violation of the Act attracted criminal prosecution. The legislation was lost sight of until the SHRC recently examined a petition of victims of child marriages submitted to him at a meeting in the city.

A hearing was conducted to go into the merits of the petition. It came to light during the proceedings that the marriages were performed on a major scale at Srikalahasti in Chittoor during Sivaratri celebrations. A separate hearing was held at Srikalahasti on Friday when the problem was confirmed.

This article is available at www.hindu.com/2006/02/28/stories/2006022820160100.htm

The Hindu
Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Several journalists and teachers joined students from Jawaharlal Nehru

University, Delhi University and Jamia Millia Islamia in staging a demonstration near Connaught Place here on Saturday to demand release of members of a fact-finding team who were arrested in West Bengal this past week.

The students shouted slogans against the West Bengal Government for "forcible acquisition" of land of the farmers for the proposed special economic zones (SEZs).

The six members, including student activists and political leaders, had gone to Nandigram in West Bengal to inquire into the peasants' grievances over land acquisition for a proposed SEZ. However, the team was arrested at Tekhali Bazar before they could reach Nandigram on January 4 and were booked under alleged false charges.

Demanding release of all team members, eminent journalist Praful Bidwai said it was the right of the people to protest. Noted journalist Javed Naqvi said: "Perhaps the West Bengal Government is trying to ape China as their policy of SEZ is very similar to what the latter did in Hong Kong."

Senior lawyer Colin Gonsalves, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation leader Prabhat Kumar and general secretary of JNU Students' Union Sandeep Singh also addressed the students and demanded that the West Bengal Government stop acquiring land for SEZs.

The article is available at:
www.thehindu.com/2007/01/14/stories/2007011416820300.htm

Hindustan Times, Ranchi
HRLN in association with Jharkhand State Legal Services Authorities organises a ‘Judicial Colloquium on Trafficking and the Law and Reproductive Rights for Women’.

‘Sold off’ and then married for money
Police fails to register case
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 24
For three months, 14-year-old Rajvinder Kaur has been enduring more pain than she can ever handle in a lifetime.

Allegedly “sold off” and then forced by a relative to marry a 32-year-old “crippled” man from a Hoshiarpur village, Rajvinder Kaur can barely gathers courage to recall the sequence of events.

“We are very poor. My parents are physically weak. My mother is a polio victim and disabled; my father has TB. My relative Rani came to our house on April 18 when my father and elder sister Sukhwinder were away. She took us to her house where Bhan Singh and his mother were waiting. Before I could do anything they forced me into a van, put make up on my face and married me to Bhan Singh in a gurdwara. He kept exploiting me sexually.”

From Mehndipur near Mukerian to an unfamiliar destination in village Urmar Tanda, Rajvinder’s journey seemed endless until Sukhwinder rescued her some days ago. Says Sukhwinder, “When I came to know that Rani had taken money for marrying Rajvinder to a man who had a rod in his leg, I could not stop myself. She deliberately took Rajvinder away in our absence so she could marry her. The marriage took place on April 18 and I brought Rajvinder back on April 22.”

But the village panchayat did not support Sukhwinder’s act of courage. Sarpanch Mulkha Singh asked the family to send Rajvinder back. With no support, Sukhwinder succumbed to social pressure. Her mother, with 70 per cent disability, could not fight the panchayat; her father, a daily wager, was also helpless.

But Sukwinder did not take things lying down. She could not see her sister wither under the weight of an unwanted relationship. On May 28 she went to Urmar Tanda and rescued her sister. Yesterday she landed in Chandigarh to seek legal help from Human Rights Law Network.

Said Sukhwinder: “When I went to Urmar Tanda I saw Bhan Singh beating Rajvinder. His mother had also been harassing her for dowry. So I brought Rajvinder back.” But in Mukerian, another trial awaited the sisters.

“After much persuasion the sarpanch helped me bring my sister back. But that was not the end of our troubles. Despite repeated representations to DC, SSP, and SHO at Hoshiarpur, no action was taken against the accused,” said Sukhwinder. A visibly shaken Rajvinder added, “Police only asked if Bhan Singh had sexual relationship with me. When I answered they enquired more. I was ashamed.”

Although a clear cut case of human rights violation of the minor, blatant violation of Child Marriages Restraint Act, 1929 and rape under Section 375 IPC, the police has not yet registered a case against the accused. On the contrary some police personnel from Mukerian have been allegedly threatening Sukhwinder with dire consequences if she did not compromise with Bhan Singh.

With nowhere to go, Sukhwinder has lodged her sister in a short-stay home at Chandigarh. Until help flows, even Rajvinder does not wish to go back home where a life of suffering waits to haunt her.

This report is also available at: www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050725/main8.htm

Supreme Court issues notice to Union Government and 8 states on denial of wages and statutory dues to thousands of workers in tea gardens.

HRLN Chandigarh intervenes to ensure contractor pays compensation for negligence.

Newsline, Chandigarh

HRLN organizes a convention to promote the concept of right to mental health and the application of psychological principles to legal concerns.

Telegraph, Guwahati 

Indian Express, Chandigarh
HRLN, Chandigarh, seeks facilities for disabled persons during voting in parliamentary elections

Times of India, Chandigarh
Vandana Shukla ,TNN   

The country's 7 per cent physically/mentally challenged population is not facilitated enough to exercise their franchise. So their unheard voice fails to bring about a tangible difference to their life.

Disabled Are Still Waiting... 

• Despite presentations no political party has taken up their issue in their election manifesto
•  Certifying disability under the Disability Act 1995 is vague and left to subjective interpretation
•  Mandatory photographic evidence of disability in ID card is humiliating in certain cases
•  India has yet to develop standard sign language for deaf and dumb
•  Braille not included on the electronic voting machine. 

Indian Express, Pune
ICHRL provides a voice to the visually handicapped on platform 7.

Times of India, Mumbai

Times of India, Mumbai
ICHRL and National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Physically Disabled (NCPEDP) hold a workshop on “Disability laws “ to promote and protect the rights of disabled and create awareness on legislations.

Indian Express
Colin Gonsalves, senior Supreme Court lawyer and Director, HRLN, stresses the relevance and usefulness of PIL’s as a cheap and effective method of getting justice delivered to the physically challenged.

The judgments on housing, social security and mental health are very useful to those who work in the movement for disability rights and also the disabled. 


The article is accessible at 
www.thehindu.com/2005/08/01/stories/2005080100720200.htm

Times of India, New Delhi

HRLN on behalf of disability rights activist Javed Ahmad Tak files petition asking the state government to provide opportunities for education to the disabled.

Hindu, New Delhi

— Photo: PTI

BATTLE CONTINUES: Irom Chanu Sharmila coming out of the Patiala House Court in New Delhi on Friday.

Karnataka - Bangalore    

Acid attack: bail plea of convict rejected
Special Correspondent

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Haseena was attacked with acid in 1999
High Court awarded life imprisonment to the attacker
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bangalore: The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the bail application of Joseph Roderiguez, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Karnataka High Court for attacking a woman with acid in Bangalore in 1999. Joseph Roderiguez had gone on an appeal to the Supreme Court on the life imprisonment sentence and also sought bail. The single judge Bench of Arijit Pasayat rejected the bail application outright because the offence was of throwing acid and the victim, Haseena, was threatened by the convict during the pendency of trial.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves of the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) appeared on behalf of Haseena. HRLN had given an application for impleading it as a party. Sanjay Hegde appeared on behalf of the State.

In a landmark judgement in August 2006, a Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court, comprising Justice S.R. Bannurmath and Justice Subash B. Adi, sentenced Joseph Roderiguez to imprisonment for life for attacking and grievously injuring a 20-year-old Haseena.

Haseena, who had finished her computer course while studying B.Com I year, was working in Neha Computers, which belonged to Joseph Roderiguez. Haseena left the job after the firm started making losses and joined another firm in HMT Layout. Joseph Roderiguez began pestering her to leave the new job and join his company. When she refused, he threw sulphuric acid on her when she was nearing the gate of the new company where she was working.

The  article is available at:
www.thehindu.com/2007/02/09/stories/2007020905580500.htm

Hindu, New Delhi
Victims and speakers at the People’s Tribunal organised in Delhi by HRLN and four other organisations stress the need for its repeal

The Hindu

J. Venkatesan

People left in the lurch in Andaman and Nicobar: humans rights panel

NEW DELHI: The relentless suffering of the people of the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the last two years is more horrifying than the tsunami that struck the islands on December 26, 2004, says a Human Rights Law Network repor