With almost 40 per cent of human rights violation cases registered yearly by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) till October 2021, Uttar Pradesh has topped the list of most human rights violations in India for three years in a row, according to data provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Rajya Sabha.
In March 2018, Uttar Pradesh was the leading state that registered human rights violations with 38659 total complaints, while Delhi recorded 5829 complaints, Maharashtra 2230, and Kerela had 2703 complaints. Other states such as Meghalaya, Goa, and Arunachal Pradesh had some of the lowest cases amounting to 36, 46 and 44 respectively, according to MHA data.
Of the total number of cases, Uttar Pradesh had accounted for 41,947 cases in 2018-19, 32,693 in 2019-20, 30,164 cases in 2020-21 and 24,242 cases in 2021-22 till October 31. The state has been struggling to reduce human rights violations for the last three years.
Meanwhile, Delhi accounted for 4,972 cases this year till October 31 with 6,067 violations in 2020-2021, 5,842 in 2019-2020, and 6,562 in 2018-2019.
The ongoing human rights violations in UP can be partially attributed to human rights violations enacted by police officers in the state. MHA has reported more than 11,000 human rights violations complaints against police personnel in Financial year 2020-2021, with 5,388 cases only filed from Uttar Pradesh, according to New Indian Express. Till January 15, 2021, most human rights violations by police officers were reported from UP, followed by the national capital. Under the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, the state government has also arrested 4,000 people over allegations of cow slaughter till August 2020.
In the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP M Shanmugam asked whether human rights violations were increasing in the country and also asked for a state-wise number of cases that have taken place over the lpast three years and the compensation given to the victims.
In response, Nityanand Rai said that since 2018, NHRC recommended a total of ₹63.67 crores as monetary relief to rights victims.
