Cases of human rights violation against police are on the rise in districts like Bangalore and Mysore, State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) officials said.
About 60 per cent of such cases is registered against the police every year while 40 per cent is on the lack of basic amenities, SHRC member C G Hungund said.
“Police harass jewelers by making false allegations and demanding either gold or money,” Hungund charged.
Assistant Registrar of SHRC Abdul Hafeez said police harass people by making false allegetions. Such cases are more in cities than rural areas. Hafeez recalled a suo motu case by SHRC on the death of Lakshmi Devi. The woman was accused of stealing sarees from a shop where she was a sales woman.
She committed suicide leaving behind a note saying that she was unable to bear the harassment from the police.
After her death, the commission ordered a compensation of `2 lakh to the family which has still not been paid. The commission also claims that there were no hearings from July 28, 2012, till the end of November 2013, as the commission has no chairman. As many as 15,494 cases are pending as on December 1.
“The commission has been headless since a year. We have been writing to the state government to appoint a chief at the earliest but the government has still not done so,” Hafeez said.
Despite individual complaints against violation of human rights, Hungund said there is a need to address the vulnerable class on priority basis. “We have traveled 19 districts to address the vulnerable class,” Hungund added.