MY KOLKATA EDUGRAPH
ADVERTISEMENT
Regular-article-logo Saturday, 05 July 2025

'Erosion of faith' label on rights panel

Commission under Naparajit accused of inaction on several complaints

Our Bureau Published 17.07.15, 12:00 AM
Naparajit Mukherjee

July 16: Several officials today said the number of complaints received by the state human rights commission had come down because of an "erosion of faith" in the panel and pointed to several instances when the rights body had not acted despite formal complaints.

Yesterday, the acting chairperson of the state human rights commission, former director-general of police Naparajit Mukherjee, had said the number of complaints received by the panel had come down and attributed this to the "good job" done by the government.

Mukherjee, the first police officer to helm the rights panel, could not be reached for comment by this newspaper today despite repeated attempts.

The Telegraph lists several cases where the commission under Mukherjee allegedly took no action despite complaints, according to sources in the panel.

? On January 19, 2014, a tribal girl was gang-raped allegedly on the orders of a kangaroo court in Birbhum's Labhpur. Although the Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the matter, the state rights panel had not. What's more, the panel is yet to act on a formal complaint lodged by a Birbhum-based NGO in the case.

? On June 7, 2014, BJP worker Sheikh Rahim was hacked to death in broad daylight by suspected Trinamul activists in a village in Birbhum's Illambazar. An FIR drawn up by the police on the basis of a complaint by Rahim's family had included a Trinamul block committee president's name as an accused. The commission has not responded to a formal complaint in the case.

? On October 27, 2014, three men - Taushik Ali, Suleman Sheikh and Mozammel Haque - died in political clashes in Birbhum's Makra when suspected Trinamul supporters attacked a BJP-dominated village in a "recapture raid". The rights panel did not take cognisance and is yet to launch a probe into the case despite several complaints.

? In January this year, a rights group filed a complaint at Mukherjee's office regarding 52-year-old farmer Obaidur Rehman's death in police custody at Malda's Harishchandrapur police station. The commission has not responded to the complaint.

? In the same month, a Birbhum-based NGO had written to both the state panel and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), urging action against cops who had allegedly tortured a woman in Birbhum's Sattor with nettle leaves and blades. Although the national body wrote back within a month with confirmation of the launch of a probe, no reply has come till date from Mukherjee's office.

? On June 22, three Trinamul workers were hacked and shot dead in Burdwan's Khandaghosh, allegedly by a rival faction of the party over control of illegal sand mining. The police conducted raids and arrested 43 people. Although Firoze Sheikh, a brother of one of the victims, had lodged a formal complaint seeking redress on June 25, he is yet to receive a response.

A state human rights commission source said the panel could have taken suo motu cognisance of all these incidents and asked for reports from the police. When Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly was heading the rights panel, the commission had initiated numerous probes on a suo motu basis.

In July last year, Mukherjee's office did not take suo motu cognisance of Trinamul Congress MP Tapas Paul's inflammatory comments at a public meeting in Nadia's Choumaha, where he threatened Opposition activists with rape and annihilation of their families.

Justice Ganguly, who had invited the displeasure of the government by recommending compensation to a Jadavpur University professor who was harassed for allegedly forwarding a joke on the chief minister, said the commission's inertia was "astonishing".

The former Supreme Court judge, who had stepped down last year following a yet-to-be-substantiated allegation of sexual misconduct by a law intern, said the commission had lost "all credibility" on account of Mukherjee's apparent proximity with the ruling establishment.

Several senior jurors who were members of the national human rights panel were critical of Mukherjee.

"The members should at least be seen as being neutral.... The background of the person appointed matters, especially in commissions of this kind," said retired Chief Justice of India and former NHRC chairperson, Justice S. Rajendra Babu.

In response to a question from this newspaper on the matter, former Chief Justice of India and the longest-serving NHRC chairperson, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, said: "Bengal does not have a chairperson. He is a police officer."

Follow us on:
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT