NHRC has sent notices to the CS and DGP of Assam

NHRC has sent notices to the CS and DGP of Assam
The case of stripping of adivasi women in Guwahati
Parhlad Kumar Aggarwal 21/12/2007 3:01:06 PM(IST)

The National Human Rights Commission has sent notices to the Chief Secretary and DGP Assam on two incidents where rioters in Guwahati stripped adivasi women.


Taking suo-motu cognizance of a report, which appeared in the English daily Telegraph on November 27, 2007. The commission said that the incident showed the failure of the Government in protecting the dignity of women, which resulted in violation of their human rights.


According to the news report, a young adivasi woman ran down a Guwahati street naked, stripped by ethnic rioters, while leering city youth clicked away with their cell phone cameras. The report also said that in another incident three persons pounced on another adivasi woman and started stripping her.



The report said that all her pleas fell on deaf ears till they stripped her naked and then only they let her go. The news report said that the victims were participating in the Adivasi procession in demand of Scheduled Tribes status to them.



The report further said that the police refused to intervene when angry local mobs dragged adivasi men, women and children and mercilessly beat them up.

The Commission has given two weeks time to the authorities for a report.