Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Justice KG Balakrishnan on Monday inaugurated a public hearing on atrocities committed on Schedule Castes and Tribes, and other issues related to social justice, at Manhatma Gandhi Labour Institute. The former chief justice of India praised Gujarat and said that the condition of Scheduled Castes seems good in the state as compared to other states of India.
He further said that Gujarat had implemented many innovative schemes for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Tribes. "The schemes are working well. This is the state in which penetration of education among Scheduled Castes and Tribes has reached 70 per cent," he said.
"Gujarat could be the model state in this regard. That is why we have begun the opening hearing session from here," Justice Balakrishnan said.
More than 100 people from across the state had come to file complaints before the NHRC and many of them even presented their problems on the dais. The commission is on a two-day visit to the city and will focus mainly on atrocities committed on dalits.
Besides Justice Balakrishnan, the visiting NHRC team comprises member Justice BC Patel, registrar (law) AK Garg, director general investigation (NHRC) Sunil Krishna and some senior officers of the commission.
"The purpose of conducting open hearings was to give Scheduled Castes a chance to come and speak out fearlessly.
We shall convey their views to the district collectors, police officials, Labour Department, and Justice Department so that they can suggest remedies for their problems," he said.
However, Justice Balakrishnan also said that there were certain pockets in the states where some groups had been indulging in rampant discrimination and that it would take some time to get over these problems.
NHRC has decided to hold such open hearings in various states to reach out to dalits and hear their complaints about violations of their rights by the authorities. Such hearings are among the recommendations made by KB Saxena, IAS (retd) in his report to the NHRC on the continuing problems faced by dalits. The commission has adopted 2012-13 as the year for implementation of the Saxena committee report.
"We shall be conducting such open hearing sessions in various states of the country. After two weeks, we shall be going to north-eastern states like Guwahati (Assam), we plan to go to West Bengal, conduct an open hearing in Chattishgarh," Justice Balakrishnan said.
‘Gujarat doing well in dalit welfare’ says NHRC chairman - India - DNA
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