Chandigarh : Taking suo motu cognisance of violence during Jat quota agitation in Haryana, the state Human Rights Commission on Wednesday issued notices to authorities concerned seeking their responses even as it said it had not received any complaint regarding alleged rape and molestation in Sonipat during the turmoil.
“So far, we have issued notices to nine authorities. Today, we issued notices to NHAI, Railways, Principal Secretary, Environment and Conservator Forests, Haryana, and the state’s Principal Secretary, Irrigation,” the Commission’s Chairperson Justice Vijender Jain (retd) told reporters here. “On March 4, we issued notices to Haryana’s Chief Secretary, State DGP, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) and Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, who was asked to file a response on behalf of the Chief Minister,” he said.
On media reports of rape and molestation during Jat stir near Murthal in Sonipat, Justice Jain said that so far no one has made any complaint to them in this regard.
Notices were earlier issued to the Director General of Civil Aviation and the Secretary Civil Aviation as there were charges that some airlines charged hefty sums of money from travellers between Chandigarh and Delhi as the national highway was blocked due to Jat stir.
A representative of a private carrier appeared before the Commission here, Justice Jain said three other operators have sought more time to appear.
“If they don’t appear at all, we will pass ex-parte order then,” he said. Justice Jain, a former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice, said that the Commission had invoked Section 13 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, to issue notices to the authorities, who have been asked to file their responses by April 18. Section 13 deals with powers of the Commission with regard to inquiries, empowers it with powers of a civil court trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
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