NHRC, SHRCs officials suggest promoting human rights for under trials

New Delhi, Dec 10: A secretary-level meeting of representatives of the NHRC and state-level rights panels has made several suggestions for further promoting human rights, including those of under trials.

           The meeting was held here to explore how the state-level commissions and the National Human Rights Commission could collaborate and share the best practices.

          “Several important suggestions were made during the meeting to strengthen cooperation and partnership among various commissions. One suggestion was that all custodial deaths may not be due to police torture or apathy hence these should not be generalised in the data related to custodial deaths in the National Crime Record Bureau,” a senior NHRC official said.

          Neeta Verma, DG, NIC, spoke about how the concept of ‘Digital India’ has been put into place with the support of information technology by developing Common Services Centre portal.

          The meeting also explored the possibilities of collaboration with the District Legal Services Authority, State Legal Services Authority, as well as National Legal Services Authority for organising awareness workshops on human rights and related redressal mechanism.

          “Governments should be asked to provide financial resources at the level of police chowki and police stations as lack of resources also become a reason for human rights violations of in custody people, who require to be provided food and other material,” was another suggestion made during the meeting.

          The participants included senior officers from the NHRC, SHRCs and national as well as district and state legal services authorities, representing different states.