NHRC orders government to give relief to man acquitted in rape case after 20 years

LUCKNOW: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to submit a report on the relief and rehabilitation of a man, who has been acquitted by high court in a rape case 20 years after he was convicted.

The Commission has also sought the details of action against the erring public servants.

Deputy director, NHRC, Jaimini Kumar Srivastava said, the Commission observed that it seems to be a case of non- application of the section 433 Cr PC by which the Sentence Review Board, under the law needs to reconsider review of the sentence awarded by the court, with a view to commuting the sentence. It said that in many such cases there may be prisoners older than 75 years of age dying in the jails, which clearly depicts ineffectiveness of the Sentence Review Board. The Commission taking suo motu cognizance of the media report has observed that the contents thereof, if true, amount to violation of human rights of the victim The Commission has directed the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh to submit a detailed report in the matter. The report must include the action taken against the public servants responsible in this case and steps taken for the relief and rehabilitation of the victim to compensate up to some extent for the trauma, mental agony and social stigma he has suffered during these years. The officers have been directed to submit the report within six weeks.

According to the media report carried on March 2, a 23-year-old man was sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in Lalitpur district a rape case.

He has been declared innocent by the Allahabad High Court after twenty years. During this period, every member of his family had died. His conduct in the jail was always found good but his application for furlough was not allowed to attend the cremation of his father. He was not even allowed to attend his brother’s funeral.