Annual Report - National Human Rights Commission

Complaints Before the Commission
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scrutiny irrespective of such death being natural or otherwise. Of the custodial deaths that were
reported in the course of the year 2004-2005, 7 deaths allegedly occurred in the custody of
defence / para-military forces, 136 deaths occurred in police custody, while 1357 in judicial
custody. Most of the latter resulting from illness, old age or similar factors. (Annexure 5).
4.4 The details in respect of complaints registered last year again confirm the assessment made
by the Commission in the preceding annual reports that, after successive years of rapid increase,
the number of complaints received by the Commission now appears to have stabilized. As in the
past, the largest number of complaints registered was from the State of Uttar Pradesh; they
numbered 44,351 or 59.6 percent of the total number of complaints registered by the Commission.
Delhi followed Uttar Pradesh, with 5,221 complaints while Bihar coming third with 3,917
complaints. It would again appear that the establishment of State Human Rights Commissions
has not so far led to any significant reduction in the number of complaints being received by the
National Human Rights Commission from Uttar Pradesh.
4.5 Of the total number of 85,661 cases disposed of in 2004-2005, 38,448 were dismissed ‘in
limini’, while 21,465 were disposed of with directions to the appropriate authorities for remedial
measures. 766 intimations relating to custodial deaths, 46 cases of encounter deaths and 24,936
other cases were also disposed of after calling for reports from the concerned authorities. In the
latter group, 24 cases pertained to alleged disappearances, 1086 cases to illegal detention/ illegal
arrest, 1213 cases of alleged false implication, 16 cases of alleged custodial violence, 84 cases of
alleged ‘fake encounters’, 6833 instances related to failure to take appropriate action and 6488
complaints related to other alleged police excesses. During the period under review, the Commission
dealt with a number of complaints relating to rights of women. 196 cases of allegations of violating
the dignity of women, 320 cases alleging sexual harassment of women, 634 cases alleging abduction,
rape and murder, 1115 cases relating to dowry deaths, 708 cases of dowry demand, 279 cases
alleging exploitation of women and 392 cases alleging rape of women were disposed of. The
Commission also disposed of 30 cases concerning child labour, 19 cases relating to child marriages
and 102 cases of bonded labour. The Commission also dealt with complaints relating to conditions
in prisons. 179 cases alleging harassment of prisoners, 51 cases alleging lack of medical facilities in
jails and 164 cases relating to other aspects of conditions in jails were disposed of by the Commission
with appropriate recommendations. In addition to the above, 593 cases alleging atrocities against
members of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes were disposed of by the Commission, as also
9 cases of communal violence and 4401 cases of other categories. The State-wise position in
respect of these cases may be seen at Annexure 3 (a) to (c).
4.6 The Supreme Court of India, vide its order dated 12/12/1996 had referred the Punjab
Mass Cremation case to the National Human Rights Commission. Previous reports of the
Commission have provided full details of the proceedings conducted by the Commission in
respect of the said case. During the period of reporting, the Commission heard the matter from
time to time and vide its proceedings dated 11/11/2004, it awarded compensation @ Rs. 2.50
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