NEW DELHI, Aug 4 - In a significant development, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the secretaries of the Union Home Ministry and External Affairs Ministry and the chief secretaries of West Bengal and Assam, requiring them to inquire into a complaint alleging that the Indians residing in the Indian enclaves of Bangladesh are being denied basic amenities.
Official sources said many of them have not been included in the census for land compensation and women are being captured and sexually exploited. All the authorities concerned have been given four weeks� time to submit a detailed report in the matter.
The NHRC�s direction was in response to a complaint filed by the Indian Enclaves People�s Committee and Kuchlibari Sangram Committee, represented by Ashwani Kumar Roy. The members of these committees are the affected persons in the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) signed between India and Bangladesh.
Both governments had agreed to facilitate orderly, safe and secure passage to residents of enclaves along with their personal belongings and moveable property to the mainland of India or Bangladesh, as the case may be,
including through provision of travel documents. Therefore, it observed that if the allegations of the complainants were true, these incidents amounted to violation of not only human rights but also the agreement between the two nations, the NHRC said.
It was alleged that most of the residents of the enclaves had not been counted in the census conducted in the years 2011 and 2015. There were 30,000 such persons. They apprehend that they will not receive any compensation as per the LBA. It is therefore very important that a new process to count these persons in the census should be initiated.
The Indians residing in the Indian enclaves in Bangladesh have been deprived of their basic amenities. The Bangladeshi mafia have captured the Hindu females and raped them. Males have been threatened to leave the enclaves leaving behind their wives, daughters and sisters. The houses have been burnt in Rangpur district and their lands have been captured. Even when the census party visited these territories, they were not allowed to include their names. The government should send security forces immediately to these territories to rescue these inhabitants and bring them back to India as per the LBA.
The complainants have approached the office of the Prime Minister of India and the Chief Minister of West Bengal, but no action has been taken.
