NHRC awards Rs one lakh to Dalit who was paraded naked

"The commission deeply appreciates the constructive, objective and dispassionate enquiry done by ADC Parveen Kumar Gupta…and objective assessment of facts and report. The State Government is directed to place this commendation in the service record of the officer,” NHRC member Justice K Ramaswamy said in his order.

Gurdial Ram, who owed some money to one Avtar Singh, was taken to the Mehatpur police station and subjected to inhuman treatment, chained to a wooden log, beaten, and stripped naked by Station House Officer seven times, the report alleged.

The nhrc said the reports of the senior superintendantof police and the district magistrate established that ”the acts of police officials amounted to gross violation of human rights and dignity of the person of gurdial Ram. The police officials took law into their own hands and abused the power.”

The commission’s order extensively quoted variousprovisions of the constitution, the human rights act of 1993, the international covenant of civil and political rights, 1966 etc to stress the importance of safeguarding the human rights of citizens, particularly the less privileged sections of the society.

Ordering a compensation of Rs. one lakh, the nhrc saidthe payment would be made by the state ”for the vicarious liability of its police officials who in abuse of their power, violated human rights of an innocent citizen.”

A sum of Rs. 20,000 may be paid directly through a draftand the rest of the amount be deposited in a fixed deposit in any nationalised bank in the victim’s name and the interest shall be paid every month to him, it said.