Bihar starvation death: No relief despite SHRC order

Despite two rulings by the State Human Rights Commission SHRC,the Bihar government has failed to give compensation to the family of a starvation death victim.

The SHRC had attributed the 2009 death of Mahendra Sharma 45 to starvation due to the extreme situation arising out of the Kosi floods and the states failure to reach out to him. SHRCs single bench of chairperson Justice S N Jha had in August last year asked the state government to pay Rs 2 lakh to the victims widow Raniya Devi for failing to protect Sharmas right to food.

The SHRC had found that Sharma,a landless labourer,was unable to have two meals a day ever since he was asked to return to his village in Chhatapur block of Supaul from a government relief camp in October 2008 after the Kosi waters started receding. Without employment or any relief coming from the government,he struggled to manage food for his wife and four children. He was not even listed under BPL. He was bed-ridden by mid-December 2008 and died in January. The SHRC found that no postmortem was conducted as the district administration had failed to take cognizance of the death.

The state home department had asked the SHRC to review its order later upheld by a three-member SHRC bench. The bench ruled that authorities failed to show due awareness of the gravity of the incident.

Taking serious exception to the Supaul administrations reasoning,the order said: A poser has been made to this effect that if Mahendra Sharma had really died due to starvation,his family members too would have suffered from starvation. Such argument is not merely hypothetical but unfortunate. If other members of the family did not die during the period,can it be conclusively argued that Mahendra Sharma did not die of starvation? It added that even if Sharma had died in a calamitous situation,the government as a welfare state should pay compensation to the bereaved family members.

SHRC chairperson Justice Jha told The Indian Express: We have dismissed the state governments review petition. They are free to contest our order but they are bound by rules to honour our order in absence of any stay.

State Home Secretary Amir Subhani,however,said: Facts available with us do not prove starvation death. Sharma was asthmatic. We,however,have listed Sharmas family under BPL and have been giving his widow social security pension and scholarships to Sharmas two sons.