Date:16/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/02/16/stories/2006021614572100.htm

National

NHRC seeks comments

NEW DELHI: Taking suo motu cognisance of news reports about the plight of Shankar Dayal, an undertrial who had been confined for 44 years without trial in the Unnao District Jail in Uttar Pradesh, the National Human Rights Commission has sought the comments of the Chief Secretary and DGP of the State.

Shankar Dayal had spent 43 of the 44 years of confinement in a mental asylum. His family believed him to be dead. The Commission observed that if the contents of the news reports were true, there had been a gross violation of the human rights of the under-trial detainee.