At least 16 tribal women were raped by the Chhattisgarh police in 2015, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said and has also issued a notice to the state government asking the chief secretary why it wasn't recommending an interim monetary relief of Rs 37 lakh to the victims.
The state government, which has been held "liable" for the crimes, had recommended a relief of Rs 3 lakh each to eight victims of rape, Rs 2 lakh each to six victims of sexual assault, and Rs 50,000 each to two victims of sexual assault.
The NHRC suo moto launched a spot investigation before the magistrate into reports of women being sexually assaulted by state police officials and found that a total of "34 victims" were sexually assaulted. They have recorded the statements of 14 of the victims and are waiting to record that of the remaining 20 victims.
The NHRC said that, during the investigation, they found that there were 16 women who were raped or sexually assaulted by the Chhattisgarh police. The commission issued a notice to the state government based on these findings, according to local media reports. The Commission added that the human rights of the victims were grossly violated by the state police for which the state government is "liable."
An Indian Express report published on November 2, 2015 had stated that women from five villages had alleged that the cops had sexually harassed and assaulted over 40 women and had gang-raped at least two of them in the state's Bijapur district. Belongings of several villagers were also reportedly destroyed, stolen or scattered by the forces passing through the villages. The NHRC initiated a probe based on this news report.
"Almost all the victims in these incidents, covered under the three FIRs, are tribals. However, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has not been invoked in any of the cases. As a result of this, the due monetary relief under the SC/ST (PoA) Act has not been paid to the victims," the NHRC said.
The NHRC has also directed its DIG (Investigation) to form a team of officials from the Investigation Division and Law Division and record the statements of victims that was not recorded either by the NHRC or by the Magistrate. The statements need to be submitted to the commission within a month.
