Afroz Alam Sahil, BeyondHeadlines
New Delhi: BeyondHeadlines has got the reply from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to questions it had asked under the Right to Information Act (RTI) on the Forbesganj police firing.
On June 3, the police had opened fire, allegedly on orders from SP Garima Mullick, on villagers who were protesting against the blockade of a road in Forbesganj block of Araria district in Bihar. In the police action, five innocent poor villagers, including one unborn baby, a woman and a six-month-old infant lost their lives.
Responding to BH’s first question that what actions have so far been taken by NCPCR in connection to police firing, the commission has said in its reply that after receiving a complaint in this regard from Mahtab Alam, it has taken cognizance of the matter and directed the Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar; District Magistrate and Collector, Collector Office, Araria District; Superintendent of Police, Araria District; Director General of Police, Government of Bihar, to investigate and inquire the matter referred to them and submit a report to the commission.
The commission has also directed them to take further necessary action and send it a factual report along with authenticated copies of the relevant documents within 30 days of the letter issued. “The report should indicate inter alia the information on the offlowing points: (1) detailed report on the probe into child victims of the police action on June 3, (2) measures taken for treatment of injured children by the administration, (3) compensation for orphaned and semi-orphaned children as decided by the administration,” the reply said.
Notably, The NCPCR has been constituted under the provisions of the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005, for protection of child rights and other related matters. Under Section 13 (1) (j) of the CPCR Act, the commission is responsible to inquire into complaints and suo motu cognizance in relation to deprivation and violation of child rights.
Interestingly, when the commission was asked in the RTI query that whether or not it has sent any investing team at Bhajanpura Village in Forbesganj, Araria District; if yes, provide the detailed address and phone numbers of the members of team and if not, then why, the commission replied: “No decision has been made so far in this regard.” It is worth noticing here that more than a month has passed the incident took place.
BH has filed RTI queries to nine different departments concerned with incident.
