The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice and sought an Action Taken Report (ATR) from the Odisha DGP in an illegal confinement case.
A man from West Bengal had to spend more than nine years in a jail in Odisha due to failure of justice dispensation mechanism in the State.
Acting on a petition filed by rights activist and Supreme Court lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy, the apex watchdog of human rights passed the order.
Ranjit Sana from Nayachchak, West Bengal, was wrongly arrested by the Nayagarh police in the armoury loot case of February 15, 2008. He had come to Bhubaneswar from his village in Howrah district in search of work.
After staying there for a few days he decided to return home and wrongly boarded a bus from Baramunda bus stand which took him to Nayagarh. The reason was miscommunication as he did not know Odia and the police suspected him of to be Maoist and arrested him.
It is a classic case of failure of the Nayagarh police. Negligence and failure of the Government authorities in acting over the issue pose serious question of human rights, Tripathy alleged.
He requested the NHRC to investigate the case, direct the Odisha DGP to act against the errant officials immediately as per law. He also demanded compensation of Rs 9 lakh to the victim. The NHRC sought a reply from the Odisha DGP within four weeks.