NHRC notice to U.P. over man’s death

19-year-old dies of starvation after walking for six days from Ludhiana

The National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government over the death of a migrant worker due to starvation in Saharanpur while he was walking from Ludhiana to his home in Hardoi. The 19-year-old, Vipin Kumar, died after walking for six days, covering 350 km. Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports, the NHRC issued a notice to the U.P. Chief Secretary and sought a report in four weeks. The officer was asked to provide details of the status of migrant labourers from U.P. who are stranded in other States due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

“Describing Vipin’s death as a serious issue of human rights violation, the Commission has observed that it is not the first time that it has come across such an incident relating to painful conditions of the migrant labourers, their illness, delivery of babies on roads and their deaths during their journey back home in the wake of Corona lockdown,” NHRC said in a statement.

Also read: Coronavirus lockdown | NHRC issues notices to States