The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed the State Government to pay Rs 25,000 to each of the 56 women who had undergone sterilisation using cycle pumps in a camp in Angul district on December 28, 2014.
The NHRC has issued a direction to the Chief Secretary in this regard considering a petition and subsequent submissions filed by rights campaigner Radhakanta Tripathy.
The petitioner alleged that the doctors used bicycle pump to inflate abdomen of 56 women while conducting laparoscopic tubectomy at a sterilisation camp at Banarpal in Angul on the aforesaid date. This abominable problem was witnessed due to lack of sophisticated surgical equipments. Rural women are being discriminated against the urban counter parts in sterilization drive, Tripathy alleged.
In its report, Angul CDMO stated all 56 women confirmed that they had no complaints regarding the sterilization operation.
However, considering various aspects filed by Tripathy, the NHRC observed, “Since insufflators are not available in many hospitals, the bicycle pumps are used as substitute. This caused pain and risk in the sterilization and amounts to serious violation of human rights.
The lives of the women were put to danger and thereby their human rights were violated.”