June 7,2000 TOI,
NEW DELHI: Human rights take a maximum beating in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Bihar and, surprisingly, the national capital.

On an average every day 73 cases of human rights violations take place in UP, which comes to a staggering number of 26,829, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has said.

But the UP government is yet to act on the Allahabad high court ruling directing it to establish a state human rights commission, the NHRC has noted. The commission has considered only about 60 per cent of the total cases for the year 1999-2000.

Of 47,819 cases considered by the NHRC, 26,829 came from Uttar Pradesh, followed by Bihar with 4226 and Delhi with 3052 cases respectively, the commission's data showed. National Crime Records Bureau figures show Delhi is fast becoming a `crime capital',

The least number of complaints on human rights abuses, like custodial death, rape, atrocities on minorities and SC/ST and illegal detention, were reported from the north-east and Kerala.

Delhi is followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in the table with 2,062 and 2,011 cases respectively. The entire North-East region accounts for the minimum number of human rights violations - only 352 - followed by Kerala with 291. Both have a high litercay rate.

The data clearly shows that the incidence of human rights violation was related to the literacy rate and general awareness regarding human dignity. Even as there are many sensitisation programmes for the police personnel, most cases of human rights violation received by NHRC were those of police torture or insensitivity towards the public.