NHRC to hold 'Public Open Hearing' of human rights cases in Guwahati from today

New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will hold a two-day `Camp Sitting and Public Open Hearing` in Guwahati from Thursday (December 16, 2021) to hear the complaints related to the human rights violations from the five Northeastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Sikkim and Nagaland.

According to NHRC, Justice Arun Mishra, Chairperson, NHRC will inaugurate the hearing at Assam Administrative Staff College, Khanapara, Guwahati at 10 am.

Justice Rajiv Jain and MM Kumar, Secretary General Bimbadhar Pradesh and other officials of the commission and state government will be present.

After the inauguration, 31 cases pertaining to the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Sikkim and Nagaland will be taken up in a single sitting. These include fresh complaints received in response to the Commission`s public notices for open hearing as well as some earlier registered cases, in which the requisite reports from the concerned State Authorities have not been received.

On Friday, nine cases already in progress before the Full Commission will be taken up for consideration.

The cases will be heard in the presence of complainants and concerned public authorities so that some decisions are taken on the spot for redressal of grievances of the victims of rights violations.

"Thereafter, the Commission will hold a meeting with NGOs and Human Rights Defenders to ascertain the human rights situation and related issues in these five States. This will be followed by a meeting with the senior officers of all the five States to discuss the important human rights issues. Later, the Commission will brief the media about the outcome of the `Public Open Hearing and Camp Sitting`," said NHRC.

The Commission has been organizing `Open Hearing and Camp Sittings` in different States of the country since 2007 and has so far held more than 40 such sittings and hearings with the objective of quick disposal of cases and to sensitize and create awareness about human rights at the grassroots.

Due to Covid-19 guidelines and restrictions, the Commission could not hold any Camp Sittings and Open Hearings after Raipur, Chhattisgarh in February 2020 but with the improvement in the COVID-19 situation, it restarted these with the two-day Sitting in Shillong for three North- Eastern States of Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura, which concluded today on Wednesday.