NHRC special rapporteur checks Keonjhar jails, police stations & shelter homes

Keonjhar: National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC’s) special rapporteur (Odisha and West Bengal), Santosh Kumar Satapathy, is in Keonjhar on a five-day visit to check human rights violations, if any, at jails, police stations and shelter homes.Rabindra Kumar Pradhan, additional district magistrate, who accompanied him after the senior NHRC official arrived in Keonjhar on Sunday, said he has been visiting different jails, police stations and other organisations to investigate human rights violations. He will report the findings before the NHRC, New Delhi, added Pradhan.Sources said that he toured different jails in Keonjhar and Champua, various police stations and shelter homes in the district, where he reviewed food and lodging facilities, ensuring compliance with the human rights Act. On Monday evening, he interacted with the representatives from several NGOs and other voluntary organisations, mostly regarding women’s and children’s issues, such as trafficking, child labour and marriage, besides their protection and mechanisms. He also discussed health and nutrition issues like malnutrition and integrated child development programmes.Besides, he discussed issues faced by the tribal and SC communities, covering implementation of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and related safeguards, socio-economic inclusion and access to govt schemes. He also discussed other issues such as land rights, displacement, health, education and migration. Besides, he went through case studies, best practices and challenges faced by the NGOs.Officials from different departments also participated in the discussion.