On the lines of the National Human Commission, Haryana State Human Rights Commission (HSHRC) was formed in 2012 to address public grievances as well as protect the human rights of the people . Considering the seriousness of the matter, the Commission itself takes suo motu cognizance in many cases and also takes action on people’s complaints. The objective of the Commission is that the human rights of any citizen of the state should not be violated. But the post of Chairman and two members are lying vacant which continues to result in a backlog of pending files. All three posts have been lying vacant for around two and half months now and due to this, people are facing problems. . When the officials of the Commission are asked about which, the answer comes that at present the appointments have not been made so action is not being taken on them. As soon as appointments are made on these posts, work on solving people’s problems will start with immediate effect.Keeping in view the people’s complaints and considering the seriousness of the matters, the Commission also makes recommendations to the state government and also provides suggestions for policy formulation.
According to the information received from the Human Rights Commission about 600 complaints have been received from people since the month of September and on an average, the commission receives 250 to 300 complaints a month ranging from sexual exploitation, exploitation, extortion to custodial assault, bribery and molestation etc requiring the commission to come up with the necessary action but due to all the above mentioned three posts being vacant, redressal of people’s complaints is pending.
Notably, the Commission deals with the complaints in three ways. Apart from sending the complaint to the Commission by mail, the complaint is also sent physically. Besides, considering the gravity of the matter, the commission sometimes also takes cognizance of the same. Besides, an Investigation Wing has also been formed in the Commission to ensure the timely disposal of the case depending on its nature.. In continuation to aforesaid, it is pertinent to mention that a post of SP and two posts for DSP have been sanctioned to ensure the smooth and fair inquiry into the matter. Since all three posts are kept lying vacant, it continues to affect the functioning of the commision. But it is saddening that this post is vacant since the post was sanctioned and no officer has been given this responsibility. Thus, the seriousness can be gauged from the prevailing scenario. : According to the latest information received from the Commission, on an average 60 percent of the complaints received by the Commission are against police employees and officers which is a matter of serious concern. . The Commission has earlier also been raising questions on the working style of the police department. In such a situation, the department also needs brainstorming as the complaints against the police personnel in nature are sexual exploitation, exploitation, extortion, custodial assault, bribery and molestation. Apart from this, complaints against employees and officers of other departments are also received by the Commission.
Puneet Arora, Spokesperson, State Human Rights Commission said that around 600 complaints have been received by the Commission since September. The chairman and two members of the commission are likely to be appointed soon and after this the process of hearing the pending complaints will begin. The Commission takes all possible steps to resolve complaints in a timely manner.According to the information received, most of the cases coming to the Commission are related to casual approach of police, administration, non-availability of benefits of government schemes, old age honour allowance scheme, encroachment on property, social welfare department and medical negligence by doctors etc. In many cases the Commission takes suo motu cognizance and also takes action on people’s complaints. People from many departments, from health department to police, knock on the doors of the commission for justice.