State Human Rights Commission plans online plaint system

MYSORE: In an effort to provide easier access and quicker redressal to victims of rights violations, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) is planning to set up an online system where people can register their complaints.

Currently, there is just one SHRC office - located in Bangalore - to receive complaints from people across the state. Complainants from faraway places face inconvenience as they make personal visits to the Bangalore office to follow up on their cases. SHRC sources admitted that many people must have refrained from reporting human rights violations with the commission just because of this inconvenience.

SHRC IGP Sunil Agarwal said, "Aggrieved parties may complain to us through e-mail and post but they need to travel to Bangalore for any discussion."

SHRC authorities feel that more people will be encouraged to come forward and register their cases once the proposed online system becomes operational. With the proposed online system, the commission is planning to update the status of complaints on a regular basis. This facility, however, would not be extended to those who register their grievances via emails or posts. The government is yet to decide on a proposal to set up regional centres of the human rights commission to deal with cases more diligently. Mooted a year ago, Agarwal says the proposal recommends setting up of SHRC centres at all six police ranges.

In the past five years on an average, the SHRC has been receiving about 200 genuine complaints annually.

"Majority of cases are from Bangalore. This maybe because of the awareness level and proximity to the SHRC office. Since 2007, we have received nearly 30,000 complaints, of which about 7,000 are genuine," said the IGP.

(2013-02-17/timesofindia)