The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the District Magistrate of Samastipur in Bihar to submit the report on the action taken on the issue of the utter starvation faced by a six-member family in Ramol village.
And the move by the rights panel came on a petition filed by Supreme Court counsel and rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy.
The petitioner had contended that the family, comprising two senior citizens and four children belonged to a vulnerable group, with barely enough food to keep themselves going.
According to the petition,Raman Mandal,70, and his wife Binda Devi,65,were forced to take up the guardianship of their young grandchildren -- Sangeeta, Santosh, Sandeep and Komal -- since the kids had lost their mother.
According to Parvati, a distant relative, the family had been living in penury and the children could not attend school since the elderly grandparents were not able to afford the tuition fee.
Moreover, the petitioner drew the rights panel’s attention to the fact that none of the state govt schemes had come to the affected family’s aid. And he contended that the senior citizens would die of starvation and the children, who had been suffering from malnutrition, would follow suit as a result of the government apathy.
Hence, he requested the NHRC to direct the state government to take immediate steps to provide food to the family, proper education to the children and benefits under the welfare schemes.
Additionally, the NHRC issued notice to the Gujarat Chief Secretary over the issue of denial of scholarships to some 3,125 Dalit students in Ahmedabad.
The rights panel had taken suo motu cognisance of a media report which stated that applications of 1,613 students for scholarship were pending, whereas 1,512 applicants had been denied the financial aid due to lack of funds.