NHRC notice to UP over alleged beating of disabled people

NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission ( NHRC) has sought explanation from Uttar Pradesh government and the state police over the alleged beating of disabled persons by a senior police official in Bijnor district.

The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report, accompanied by a photograph, that a Superintendent of Police brutally beat up persons with disabilities, who were protesting outside the Collectorate in Bijnor on July 22.

"The contents of the press report, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of human rights," the commission observed.

Notices have been issued to the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police of Uttar Pradesh and reports have been sought in the matter within two weeks.

According to the media report, carried on the July 23, a group of disabled persons, under the banner of Rashtriya Viklang Party, had assembled outside the collectorate to present a memorandum of their eight demands, including a raise in disabled pension and relaxation in gas and electricity connection among others.

When nobody, among the officers, reached out to accept their memorandum even after two hours, they sat on a dharna at the collectorate gate.

Reportedly, after sometime, the Superintendent of Police reached there and asked them to move away. When some of the disabled persons tried to present their point of view in connection with their demands, they were beaten up and forcibly removed from the gate by the SP and other police personnel.

When the officers left, the disabled persons sat on a hunger strike at the collectorate.