Hyderabad: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday issued notices to the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the constitution of state human rights commissions (SHRC) in both states.
Choudaraiah has alleged that both the AP and Telangana governments committed atrocities on farmers and other sections of the population by using police personnel to execute projects, acquiring land for private companies, and stopping people from conducting protests and rallies, which is a violation of Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
Responding to the allegation, the SC issued a notice to the AP government to commence an inquiry on the violation of human rights of farmers under the Purushottapatnam lift irrigation scheme and also issued notices to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and to 16 state governments to appoint chairpersons and members of SHRC wherever such posts remain vacant.
According to reports, on May 29, 2017, farmers at Purushottapatnam village of Seetanagaram mandal in East Godavari entered their fields demanding relief under the Land Acquisition Act 2013, in return for giving up their land for the lift irrigation scheme.
In response, the police allegedly used brute force to control them and subjected them to house arrest for nearly a week. Moreover, women protestors were allegedly manhandled by male police personnel.
Choudaraiah had earlier filed a petition with the AP SHRC against the police and other departments and sought an inquiry. As AP does not have the required number of SHRC members to accept the petition, the matter was referred to the NHRC, which asked the AP SHRC to take up the issue and accordingly, the East Godavari collector was asked to start an inquiry.
Choudaraiah has claimed the inquiry lacks credibility, since it was conducted by the same officials who are facing allegations of human rights violations, as a result of which he filed a PIL in the SC.
He said, "We want the state government to investigate the violation of human rights of farmers and women in Purushottapatnam, and punish the guilty. The SC's notice will also help fill vacancies in 16 SHRCs so that people's grievances may be redressed."
The SC bench has now adjourned the case for four weeks.
