New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sent a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government days after a Congress delegation led by senior party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met top officials of the rights panel and sought action against alleged police atrocities on anti-CAA protesters in the state, an official said on Monday.
The Congress on January 27 moved the NHRC demanding action against alleged police atrocities on the protesters in the state, claiming that victims have been made accused in case-related FIRs and no police officer has been named.
The delegation had met the NHRC chairperson and other senior officials, and made a detailed 31-page representation which included videos and photographs as “evidence” of alleged atrocities and human rights violations in the state.
After the meeting, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the UP government has “gone to war against its own people” and urged the NHRC to act decisively to protect the “constitutional rights of our citizens”.
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“The NHRC has taken cognisance of the issue after a Congress delegation visited the commission recently and me the top officials. A notice has been issued to the chief secretary in this connection and response has been sought in six weeks,” the official said.
Priyanka Gandhi on Twitter said, “Happy to see the Hon NHRC taking cognisance of our complaint. We are hopeful that Hon Chairman NHRC will ensure justice to the aggrieved.”
She also shared a copy of the notice.
“The NHRC has been requested to intervene into the matter as the complicity of the government of Uttar Pradesh in wilful repression and brutalisation of the people protesting peacefully amounts to violation of human rights and demands full and urgent attention of the commission,” the notice stated
The commission said it has also received some other complaints alleging “high-handedness and excessive use of force” by the police in Lucknow and Kanpur districts during protests against the CAA and the NRC.